


Time After Time

by hansbbrenton



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: JiHan, Jicheol, M/M, Vampire AU, Vampires, but they're subtle, its mostly soonhao, meanie, verkwan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:28:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27427939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hansbbrenton/pseuds/hansbbrenton
Summary: Soonyoung is a vampire, and after spending a few decades in America, he's back in Korea and ready to go to college. He unexpectantly meets Minghao, a human art student with a distinct passion for biting, and things only spiral downward from there.
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. Stayin' Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Yay taking my love for Soonhao and my love for vampires and putting it into one fic! I also have a fic playlist set up on spotify (it's the same title of this fic and my username on there is "baybehbrenton"), I'll be adding songs every Wednesday that relate to either the fic itself or the chapter title! New chapter every Friday until it's complete :)

Soonyoung held the box containing his new laptop firmly in his grip, he stared at it with curious eyes. One of his goals was to own one, but now that he had it he didn’t know what to think. Jeonghan stared at Soonyoung with an expectant gaze.

“Well? You do know how to use it, correct?” Jeonghan asked, tapping a finger on the box.

Soonyoung quickly nodded, “Of course! I used one to apply for the school, I’m just surprised it’s so light.”

“Well,” Joshua spoke up from the other side of the room, “It’s one of the newer models so it should be pretty light. The one Jeonghan has is an old brick.”

Vernon laughed as he walked into the common area, “It still has a DVD port.”

Soonyoung looked at Vernon, “DVDs are old technology now?”

Vernon nodded, flopping onto the couch next to Joshua.

“Wow, I remember when they were still new!” Soonyoung laughed. He was the only one who did.

“Dude,” Joshua said with a shrug, “You have to keep up. You’re going to college in a few days. You can’t keep acting like a fucking boomer.”

Soonyoung tried to protest, but realized the other was right. He was technically only 65 years old, no matter that he still looked 22. Joshua and Vernon tried to keep him up to date on all the changes, and he was usually pretty good about it, but sometimes he would slip up and show his true age. “Right, DVDs are out, and streaming is in.”

“Great. Don’t forget, you can still buy the physical thing but most people just buy digital.” Joshua said with a nod. He was the newest to this vampire lifestyle, Jeonghan had turned him only 5 years before. By the time Soonyoung and Vernon had met him two years ago, he was still getting over his newborn, uncontrollable thirst for human blood. He still had to work hard to control himself sometimes, but he didn’t try to kill every human he met now.

“Can one of you help me set this thing up? I also have to check my school’s email and get some programs downloaded onto it.” Soonyoung asked, walking over to their mostly unused dining table to start unboxing the laptop.

“What’ll we get if we help you?” Vernon asked, looking back over his shoulder.

“The satisfaction of helping an old man learn technology.” Soonyoung said, grabbing a pair of scissors to cut open the plastic wrapping.

Vernon and Joshua whispered to themselves for a moment before Vernon groaned and got off the couch. He pulled up a chair next to Soonyoung and waited, impatiently, as Soonyoung finished pulling the hardware from it’s box. Soonyoung struggled with the chord for a minute, while Vernon offered no help. As soon as it was plugged in, the screen lit up.

Vernon suddenly hissed in disappointment, “Ah shit, we have to go get a screen protector for this.”

Jeonghan stopped in his tracks, “The screen is reflective?”

Vernon nodded, “And we aren’t.”

Jeonghan groaned, “The one time I try to do something nice, it completely backfires. Can you two go get one tonight? I would, but Joshua and I were planning on going hunting.”

“Sure, no problem,” Vernon turned to Soonyoung, “Should we go now?”

Soonyoung looked to the window, the curtains were drawn but some sunlight still poked through the sides, “Wait until it’s dark, I haven’t fed in awhile so the sun will sting too much.”

Vernon nodded, “We can do that after shopping if you want, or go tomorrow.”

“Tonight is fine,” Soonyoung shook his head lightly, tapping some of the keys of his laptop nervously. He hated the actual hunting part of it all, alluring people was never his strong suit. Plus, he had a habit of breaking concentration last minute and then it turned into a lot of strained screams and panicked hitting. It was all very uncomfortable, but he had to do it.

Vernon either didn’t notice Soonyoung’s nervousness or he was choosing to ignore it because he quickly started working on getting the laptop set up. Soonyoung sat by and watched, trying not to ask any questions and just letting Vernon work. It only took a half hour to finish, and a few confused grunts from Vernon, but it was done before Soonyoung realized.

“You could set a desktop background.” Vernon suggested, opening the Internet application after logging into the apartment’s wi-fi.

“Why? Do I need one?” Soonyoung asked.

“No, but it would make you look more like a young adult if you had one. Most people around our suspected ages have some kind of background.” Vernon explained, “It can be a picture of a band you like, that’s the most common, or something from a movie.”

“What about an animal?” Soonyoung suddenly moved forward, already itching to type out the word “tiger.”

“Oh God,” Joshua suddenly groaned, his eye roll was practically audible. 

Vernon stifled a laugh, “No one uses animals any more, unironically. I mean, you could, but I’m trying to make you seem at least slightly cool.”

“You let me make it my phone background!” Soonyoung defended, already pulling his phone from his pocket to show the tiger lockscreen.

“That’s so much smaller!” Vernon said, pushing Soonyoung’s phone out of his face, “Let’s just look up some backgrounds from that one singer you like, LANY I think. They’re cool and relevant, it’ll be a conversation starter.”

Vernon got to work looking up some backgrounds while Soonyoung grumbled next to him. Being cool hardly seemed worth it if he couldn’t have a cool picture of a tiger as his laptop screen, but he wasn’t going to fight Vernon about it. After the background was set, Vernon started showing Soonyoung other features of the laptop, and even finished setting up everything he needed to before starting classes.

It was getting dark by the time they finished. Jeonghan suddenly rose from the couch, followed by Joshua, who had clearly been laid on by the other.

“Guess it’s time to go.” Jeonghan said, suddenly moving to grab his keys from their hook.

Joshua followed the other just as quick, “We’ll see you two later.”

They left without another word, and Vernon shook his head.

“They were in a rush.” The other said.

Soonyoung nodded, “Always are.”

Vernon stood, noticing that Soonyoung didn’t immediately stand as well, “You don’t want to hunt, do you?”

“What?” Soonyoung tried to laugh it off, “Of course I do, I’m hungry!”

“But you don’t want to  _ hunt.  _ You always get that way when we get ready to go, that’s why Jeonghan doesn’t want to go with you anymore.”

Soonyoung shut his eyes, if he had breath he would have sighed, “Fine, yes. I don’t want to hunt, but the other options are just as unappealing.”

Vernon nodded, “Then I’ll help you after I’m done. It shouldn’t be too bad then.”

Soonyoung agreed, and they got ready to leave. First stop was the local electronics store, the same shop that Jeonghan had bought the laptop from. They hoped the store carried the right kind of screen protectors, Vernon knew exactly what they were looking for so Soonyoung was just along for the experience, and to pay for it.

He was just lucky to have met a vampire who had an interest in keeping up with the massive technological boom in the 2000s, Soonyoung never cared much about it since he had no reason to. This was also before he met back up with Jeonghan or had met Joshua. Vernon had been very grateful to the other after they met in New York; Soonyoung helped him get his thirst under control after being completely set loose and alone by the one who turned him. Soonyoung was the first vampire to take the time to help him. They stuck together for that reason.

The sun was still setting as they walked, and the evening light pricked at Soonyoung’s exposed face like a fever. He regretted not wearing the sweatshirt with a hood or grabbing a hat before leaving like Vernon had. Soonyoung kept his hands tucked into his pants pockets to keep his sun exposure to a minimum. After tonight, he could go out in the sun for at least a week without worrying about this sick feeling. They walked to the store quickly, but at a normal pace that wouldn’t make the humans around them concerned.

The store was mostly empty, which Soonyoung thought was surprising considering it was a Saturday night. When he was just a kid, his parents took him shopping a lot on Saturdays. But that was the early 60s, and this was 2020, times have changed in 50 years.

As they walked in, Soonyoung and Vernon suddenly pricked up. They could sense another vampire was in the building, the familiar smell of the undead lingered in the air. Soonyoung looked at the few customers and employees, trying to figure out who it was while Vernon shopped. It was hard to tell from just looking at someone, but Soonyoung expected the additional smell of two more undead individuals would cause that vampire to react as well. No one seemed to notice. Maybe the other vampire had already left, but the smell wouldn’t linger as much as it was if that was the case.

Vernon grabbed the screen protector and handed it to Soonyoung, he took it, “Do you need anything else? Are your headphones still okay?”

“Yes, dad.” Vernon responded with an eye roll.

Soonyoung let out an awkward laugh, “Fine, just asking.”

They walked up to the counter together and the employee straightened as they approached, he looked bored, but he also had a book open in front of him. He put the highlighter he was holding down in the spine and shut the book.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” The employee asked as he took the packet from Soonyoung.

“Yes, thank you!” Soonyoung responded, smiling but not getting one back from the employee. He kept the same blank expression on his face the whole transaction.

The cashier handed Soonyoung the bag, and when Soonyoung grabbed it, the two touched hands. They were the same temperature. They locked eyes knowingly, neither saying anything. He looked at the name tag, trying to commit the name Wonwoo to memory. Now that they knew about each other, they would see each other again at some point. Soonyoung chose not to say anything to Vernon until they left the store.

“It was the cashier.” Soonyoung said softly once the shop’s door shut behind them.

“How do you know?” Vernon looked behind him through the store’s large windows.

“We accidentally touched hands.”

Vernon nodded, “Great, another one.”

“Where there’s one, there’s going to be another.” Soonyoung said, gripping the plastic bag a little tighter.

“Maybe not.” Vernon offered.

Soonyoung shook his head, “Not if he’s so public like that.”

“What do you think he is? Do you think we’ll have to worry about him?”

“No idea, we can ask Jeonghan later tonight. He’s older, he might know something we don’t.”

Vernon nodded, “Sure, but for now, let’s go hunting.”

“What about the bag?” Soonyoung tried to stall.

Vernon grabbed the bag and suddenly zoomed off, coming back a minute later empty handed, “It’s at home, let’s go.”

Soonyoung wanted to complain, but decided against it. At his age, complaints did nothing, and it felt weird to whine like a child to someone so much younger than him. They left the city, following Jeonghan’s personal rule to never feed too close to home, ending up in a small town full of people who had no idea what had just arrived. Vernon set off first, with Soonyoung close behind him.

Vernon was never too picky about who he chose, young or old, man or woman, it didn’t matter. He would pick the easiest target. Even though Soonyoung had taught the other to control his thirst, Vernon was the better hunter in general. He did everything so quickly, almost without even thinking about it. Before Soonyoung realized, Vernon had already fed on someone and laid them to rest under some trees.

Soonyoung tuned their last, dying breaths out, That was another part that he hated, but it was better than draining them so completely that they died in his arms. Vernon came back up to him, wiping the corners of his mouth, “You ready?”

He nodded, the two then taking off for the hunt. They passed a few people but Soonyoung kept shaking his head at Vernon’s gestures. He was only saying no because he was trying to stall again. Vernon was getting tired of the refusals.

“The next person we pass who’s by themselves is it.” Vernon said softly, only loud enough for Soonyoung to hear.

“Fine, fine.” Soonyoung said as he shook his head.

It wasn’t long before they found someone, and Vernon went up to them, whispering something in his ear. The stranger gave Soonyoung a warm smile, but his eyes were distant. Vernon had an easier time controlling people than Soonyoung did. The three walked towards the park, and into a line of trees. This is when Soonyoung grabbed their shoulders tightly, and pressed his lips against the stranger’s neck before biting down forcefully. The stranger grunted slightly at the pain, but didn’t complain as Vernon was still enchanting him.

Years of practice told him when to stop, he let the man go, setting him carefully onto the ground to let him pass in peace. Soonyoung stood up straight and used his sleeve to wipe his mouth despite it not feeling like anything was there. It was just a habit.

“There, you feel better right?” Vernon asked, putting his hands on his hips.

Soonyoung waved the comment off, “Yeah, yeah, but he was AB.” He stuck his tongue out as if to reiterate that he disliked that taste.

“Ready to go back?” Vernon laughed and pointed in the general direction of home.

But as Soonyoung was about to nod, a twig snapped behind them.

“Just one for each of you?” An unfamiliar voice spoke.

Vernon and Soonyoung turned towards the voice quickly, seeing two figures approaching them. One was unfamiliar, but they recognized the other as the cashier from the technology store.

“So it was you?” Soonyoung questioned, his nerves melting away as he realized they hadn’t been caught by the authorities.

Wonwoo nodded, “We followed your scents here.”

“Why?” Vernon asked, suddenly defensive, he still had an issue trusting other vampires.

The shorter of the two let out a loud laugh, “We were bored, and haven’t met any new vampires in a while.”

“Who are you?” Vernon questioned again.

The shorter one took a step closer, but as he did, Vernon stepped back. The other stuck his hand out to Vernon, “Boo Seungkwan, but just Seungkwan is fine. And you two are?”

When Vernon didn’t reach his hand out, Soonyoung did instead, “I’m Soonyoung, and this is Vernon. We live in the city, with Yoon Jeonghan and his mate, Joshua Hong.”

Wonwoo let out a noise of recognition, “Jeonghan? I haven’t seen him in a decade or so, how is he?”

Soonyoung nodded casually, “He’s good,” he quickly nudged Vernon to shake Seungkwan’s hand, the other was still holding his hand out patiently.

Vernon finally shook Seungkwan’s hand.

“We were about to do some hunting ourselves, would you like to join us?” Seungkwan offered, looking between Vernon and Soonyoung as he asked.

“No, thank you,” Soonyoung declined politely before Vernon could, “We already ate and were about to head back home.”

Seungkwan and Wonwoo nodded their heads.

“Shame,” Seungkwan said, he looked Vernon up and down quickly, “It would have been nice to have some extra company, but I understand. Since we live so close, maybe we’ll see each other again soon.”

“Sure, we’ll tell Jeonghan we saw you.” Soonyoung replied. They backed up, and took off without another word.

They ran home without stopping, Vernon clearly wanting to get as far away as he could from those two new vampires. Soonyoung decided to say something when they got back to their apartment’s door.

“You could at least pretend to be nice.” Soonyoung said before Vernon could unlock the door.

He paused, “I am nice.” The key turned and he pushed the door open, “I just don’t like meeting new vampires, I haven’t had good experiences with others.”

“But you liked Jeonghan and Joshua as soon as you met them.” Soonyoung reminded him as they walked in, the two mentioned were lounging on the couch together and they popped their heads up when they heard their names.

“Okay, but that’s because  _ you  _ already trusted them. We don’t know them.” Vernon countered, tossing his keys in the general direction of the hook but missed it entirely. Joshua made a face when Vernon didn’t hang them up.

“Well, Jeonghan does.” Soonyoung pointed at the older.

“What’s this about me?” Jeonghan sat up fully, getting off Joshua’s lap in the process.

“We ran into Wonwoo and Seungkwan tonight.” Soonyoung said, going to pick up the bag from earlier.

Jeonghan stopped completely, “What happened?”

Soonyoung paused, and laughed nervously, “Nothing, we just introduced ourselves and they invited us to go hunting with them. Obviously, we refused that, but it was an overall pleasant chat.”

Jeonghan looked relieved, “So maybe Wonwoo has changed, he used to be so vicious all the time. He didn’t threaten you then I guess?”

Soonyoung shook his head, “No, he seemed really mellow. Seungkwan did most of the talking.”

“Good, guess it took a century for him to realize there was more to being undead than killing people.” Jeonghan nodded, leaving the room.

“Looks like I was right to not trust them.” Vernon said, looking very pleased with himself.

“He did not say that!” Soonyoung snapped back, “All he said was that he  _ used  _ to be bad, you can’t always judge people based on how they were in the past.”

Joshua suddenly laughed, “Soonyoung doesn’t like cancel culture.”

“What the hell is ‘cancel culture/’”

~~~~~~

“Okay, old man, have fun on your first day of school!” Vernon said, trying to hold back a smile but failing. Everyone else was more excited than Soonyoung was.

“I am not that old,” Soonyoung griped as he double checked his backpack. Since he didn’t live on campus, he needed to bring everything for all the classes he would have during the day. He was more worried about forgetting something than he was about his classes.

Jeonghan stepped into the room, “Yeah, he’s actually pretty young compared to-”

“You, yeah, we know. But you’re, like, hundreds of years old.” Vernon said back, crossing his arms.

“I’ll only be 115 this year, that’s not too bad!” Jeonghan took his age very seriously.

While the two were arguing about age, Soonyoung had finished checking his bag and was ready to head out, taking the car keys off their respective hook.

“Try to make some friends!” Jeonghan called out as Soonyoung left.

He shut the door instead of responding, now the nerves of classes were starting to set in. Joshua had told him the first few days wouldn’t be too bad, but that was also coming from his experience in a completely different type of college. Joshua went to an arts school, and the structure was not comparable to a general college. Although Soonyoung was going to have some more traditional classes that Joshua could actually give advice on, his first one of the day was a basic literature class. Apparently all first years were required to take it.

The drive to the campus only took 10 minutes, and so he had plenty of time to relax before his first class. During his tour, the cafe stood out heavily in his mind. He liked the noise and the smells. Despite not actually being able to eat any of the things he smelled, he was able to enjoy a small cup of coffee on most occasions. Today, however, he didn’t think he could stomach it. His nerves were too great, so perhaps he could buy one the next day. Still, he took a seat in the corner and pulled out his laptop to start it up.

A few minutes later, someone walked by his table and paused, “Hey, is this seat open?”

Soonyoung looked up at a boy around his supposed age pointing to the chair across from him, “No, you can take it!”

“Oh, no, I was wondering if I could sit there? Every other table is full, I promise I won’t distract you, I just need to plug my phone in.” The boy explained.

“Oh sure,” Soonyoung pulled his backpack off the table and shifted his laptop closer to him, “Go ahead, I have to leave soon anyway.”

“Great, thanks so much.” The boy pulled his own backpack off his shoulders and slid into the open chair.

The two didn’t look at each other after that. Except when Soonyoung looked back over his schedule and realized he had completely forgotten where one building was, "Hey, sorry to bother you, but could I ask you a question?"

The other looked up, "Sure thing, what's up?"

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but do you know where building D is?"

"Oh, the history building! Yeah! I'm gonna have a bunch of classes there, are you a history major too?" The other smiled brightly.

Soonyoung nodded.

"Sick, I can show you later! When's your first class?"

"At 9, but my first class in that building is at 10."

The other nodded, "Okay, me too. Give me your number and we can meet here and go there together."

Soonyoung did as asked, and the other introduced himself as Lee Chan. They quickly added each other to their contacts. Soonyoung put his laptop away.

“I’ll see you here after your class, yeah?” Chan asked, noticing Soonyoung was packing up.

“Sure, I’ll let you know when I leave the classroom.” Soonyoung stood, pulling his backpack over his shoulder. The two waved at each other as he left. He had 15 minutes before class would start, but he still walked quickly to the building. Joshua told him he should be early to pick a good seat.

There were a few people already sitting in the classroom when he got there. Everyone was spread out, except for two people sitting one in front of the other against the furthest wall. They clearly knew each other well as they were chatting happily to each other. Soonyoung decided to sit near them, he figured it wouldn’t be too weird to do so, most seats by the door were taken and he wanted to sit near the front of the classroom.

He put his backpack onto the desk before sitting. As much as he didn’t want to, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation of the people next to him. He quickly realized he could not actually understand what the two were saying, but he also could not place the language. Some words seemed familiar, but the rest he didn’t know. He was tempted to turn and ask them what language they were speaking, but his anxiety stopped him. 

As the classroom filled, Soonyoung pulled out his laptop and a notebook that he specifically labelled as “Lit 101” in his mind. Joshua had said that no one wrote the subjects on the front of the notebooks anymore, and that no one used binders so Soonyoung had to leave those at home. When the professor came in, Soonyoung flipped open the notebook and checked his phone for the time. The professor arrived exactly at nine.

“Okay, everyone, welcome,” The professor gave a long winded explanation of the class as she handed out syllabuses for everyone. She introduced herself before going over it. The whole time she was speaking, Soonyoung was wondering if she would make the class introduce themselves too. He really wanted to know what language the two from before had been speaking.

Eventually, she did, but she started the questions on the other side of the room. Each person would be getting one randomly selected question that she would pull from a bag, so Soonyoung couldn’t even prepare an answer. By the time it got to him, he could practically taste last night’s meal. There were a lot of questions he could think of that he didn’t want to answer.

Before getting the question, he introduced himself as Kwon Soonyoung. The professor marked her roster.

“Great, now let’s pick your question,” she reached into the bag and pulled out a slip of paper, “Oh this is a good one, what was the best meal you’ve ever had and explain why it was the best.”

Soonyoung’s eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t eaten normal people food in over 60 years, he couldn’t even remember what it tasted like. At this point he only knew the taste of blood types. He was even having trouble remembering any meal times he had growing up. The only thing he could think of was the first time he drank someone’s blood with Jeonghan, but how to tell that story without exposing himself would be the trick.

“Oh come on, Soonyoung, there has to be one that comes to mind.” The professor joked when Soonyoung didn’t start talking.

There was, but he had to think of a lie to talk about it, “Well, there was one, but it wasn’t much of a meal in the traditional sense.”

“Tell us about that one, and we’ll all, as a class, determine if it answers the question.”

Soonyoung smiled slightly, “My closest friend at the time took me out for drinks and appetizers, it was only wine and some finger foods. It was the company that really made it great, since I had just gone through some rough shit, it was a relaxing night.”

The professor nodded, “Sure, that sounds fine. Class?”

Much to his relief, the class agreed that it counted. He suspected they just agreed in hopes to get the class over with early. The professor moved on to the next person, one of the two from earlier.

“I’m Xu Minghao,” he said.

“Oh, one of the students from China, right? You must be excited then, Jun.” The professor smiled to the other boy who nodded happily, “Great! Well, let’s get a question for you Minghao. Let’s see...what’s something you like to do to relax? Very simple.”

Minghao thought for a moment, and Soonyoung watched his face closely, “I like to read or look through the fashion tag on Instagram.”

“A simple answer for a simple question, very nice.” The professor was moving on, but Soonyoung kept looking at Minghao. The other suddenly locked eyes with Soonyoung. They held eye contact for only a few seconds, but it felt like forever. Soonyoung looked away first, towards Jun. 

He tried to distract himself from that by focusing on the lighthearted conversation between the professor and Jun, but it was hard not to. It felt like Minghao was still looking at him; he didn’t want to look back in case he was. As soon as Jun finished his introduction, Soonyoung looked back to the front, there were only a few more people left but it was getting uncomfortable to look behind him now.

Once the introductions were complete, the professor tapped her roster against the podium, “Great, well, I just have one more thing left on my plan. You’ll have to get into groups, but I promise it won’t be bad. I just want you all to get to know a few of your classmates. So, groups of 4 at least.”

The class burst into chatter as they started forming groups. Soonyoung looked around, feeling stressed and trying to avoid Minghao’s piercing eyes again. The person sitting behind him tapped his shoulder.

“Wanna join us? We need one more person.” He asked.

Soonyoung turned to see who he was referencing. Unfortunately, the boy was referring to Jun and Minghao as well. Still, Soonyoung needed a group so he agreed.

“Once you get into groups, reintroduce yourselves and give one extra fact that you didn’t share with the whole class. Then, exchange numbers and you can leave!” The professor said as she gathered up a bunch of her papers.

Soonyoung turned to face the small group, his eyes drifting over Minghao.

“I’ll start,” Jun said, “I’m Wen Junhui, but my friends all call me Jun. I’m a music major, specializing in piano. When I’m not doing that stuff, I like playing video games. I play a lot with a friend.” He then nodded at the one sitting behind Soonyoung to start.

“My name is Changkyun, I’m a digital design major. I also like playing video games, but I recently got into archery with a few friends from around the area.” He looked at Soonyoung.

“Oh, okay, well I’m Soonyoung, I’m going to be a history major. I took a few years off to travel around America, I met one of my best friends there too.”

Changkyun let out a noise of interest, “Where did you go? I used to live in Boston!”

“Nowhere specific, just most major cities. I really just wanted to tour it, but I didn’t get as far as Boston, I ended up spending most of my time in New York with my friend.” Soonyoung said.

Changkyun nodded, and the group now looked at Minghao.

“I’m Minghao, I’m also from China, but I’m an art major focusing on the fine arts and photography. And my extra fact is,” Minghao paused to think and he scrunched his nose slightly too, “I used to do martial arts, but I haven’t practiced that in a while.”

After he finished speaking, he looked up, making eye contact with Soonyoung. They both looked away quickly. It wasn’t like Soonyoung wasn’t used to people looking at him, it was that he didn’t know what to do when they did. 

Jun pulled out his phone and handed it to Changkyun, “All we have to do is exchange numbers now.”

They agreed to simply hand their phones to one another and just put their numbers in themselves, Jun thought it would be easier that way. When Soonyoung’s phone was in Jun’s hand, the other looked up.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to see your text but how do you know Chan?” Jun asked.

“Oh, him? I actually just met him this morning, we have a class together and he’s going to take me to it. Why?” Soonyoung answered, passing Jun’s phone to Minghao.

Jun gestured to himself and Minghao, “He’s one of our housemates. Do you two have the same major?” Soonyoung nodded, taking Minghao’s phone from Changkyun. Jun smiled, “Maybe that means we’ll be seeing you at our place more often, that is, if you want to. We do have four people living there, but I don’t think Jihoon would mind the company!”

Minghao snorted, “That means he has to be home.” He held his hand out to Soonyoung without even looking at him again, waiting for his phone to return to him. Soonyoung wished he could get one more glance from him before they left, there was something captivating about his gaze.

“What’s his major?” Changkyun asked, packing up his belongings.

“He’s a music major too,” Jun answered, “But he’s doing both composition and the teacher route, so he always has a lot to be doing.”

“Sounds hard,” Changkyun said, putting his backpack over his shoulders as he stood, “Catch you guys later.”

The three still sitting waved to the other as he left. Soonyoung almost forgot about his phone, and was about to say something when he found it sitting on his desk. Jun stood up now, nodding to Soonyoung.

“Chan texted you and said he had to run back to our place first, said he forgot something. Wanna come see our place? It’s only a few minutes to walk there.” Jun offered.

“Oh, I really shouldn’t impose.” Soonyoung hated going to new people’s places, the wording of being invited in was always hard. If they didn’t say it just right, he had to make some excuse as to why he wouldn’t come in.

Jun shrugged, “Really, it’s no big deal, I’m inviting you. Just tell Chan we’ll be bringing you by.”

Soonyoung looked at Minghao, who was looking back at his phone, “Fine, I don’t see why not.” He sent a text to Chan, telling him exactly what Jun had said. Chan texted a smiley face back.

The three walked together, Jun walking next to Soonyoung and Minghao in front. Soonyoung kept anxiously glancing at his phone, something he hadn’t gotten into the habit of until recently. He never understood why people his age mocked younger people for always being attached to their phones, why wouldn’t they be? It was a much more effective way to communicate and spend time than what he grew up doing.

Minghao held the door to the apartment building open for them, Soonyoung reached out to grab it. Their hands touched for a moment. Minghao raised his eyes to Soonyoung, a slight curious look passed his face but just for a moment. Even though he couldn’t feel his own temperature, Soonyoung knew he was cold, so he tried to limit contact with humans as much as possible. He could easily attribute this touch to the cold air, so he wasn’t too worried about it.

They took an elevator up to the 4th floor, and Soonyoung followed them to their door. He stopped in the entryway, pretending to send a long text.

Jun paused, “Why are you standing out there? You can come in.”

Soonyoung walked into the apartment, “Sorry, I just had to send a text to one of my housemates. He wanted to know how my first class went.” Which was only half a lie, Vernon had asked but Soonyoung wasn’t actually texting him.

“Is this the friend you met in America?” Jun asked, dropping his backpack onto the floor carefully.

“Yeah, his name is Vernon. Maybe you’ll meet him sometime.”

“Is he just a friend or something else?” Jun asked with a loud laugh.

Minghao, who had just sat onto the couch, snapped his head up, “Are you serious?”

“What? It’s a valid question!” Jun defended.

“You just met him, like, 30 minutes ago, you can’t just ask shit like that!” Minghao snapped back.

Soonyoung laughed, hoping to break the tension, “It’s fine! He’s just a friend! I don’t have a boyfriend right now!”

Jun nodded, “Join the club.”

Minghao sighed and rolled his eyes, going back to his phone. Chan walked out of a room, coming into the living room. As soon as he noticed Soonyoung, he smiled brightly.

“Small campus then, isn’t it?” Chan said, walking across the room to his backpack.

“Yeah,” Soonyoung agreed quickly.

“Do you wanna join us for lunch? We’ll be going around eleven since we don’t have classes again until either noon or one.” Chan was double checking something in his backpack as he asked.

Soonyoung, obviously, wanted to say no. He didn’t eat regular food, so he hadn’t bought a meal plan for the dining hall. “I would, but I won’t be able to get in. I didn’t get the meal plan.”

Jun spoke up, “That’s cool, we can swipe you in. I know the person doing the ID swipes, and she’ll let me swipe my card twice.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to do that to you, you shouldn’t waste a swipe on me.” Soonyoung laughed nervously.

“It’s really not a problem, dude.” Jun said.

“If he doesn’t want to come, then don’t force him. There’s always next time.” Minghao looked up from his phone, his voice sounding tired.

“Yeah, it’s no big deal, just an offer.” Chan added, smiling as he threw his backpack over his shoulders, “We gotta get to class, anyway. See you guys later.”

Soonyoung followed Chan out of the apartment and back into the elevator. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the elevator’s walls weren’t mirrored. It was a good thing, since most elevators were. He could feel comfortable coming to visit his new friends.

“You live off campus, right?” Chan asked as they walked back into the fresh morning.

Soonyoung nodded.

“If you ever need a place to chill out, feel free to come by our place. It’ll probably be unlocked. Don’t tell anyone, but we leave the front door unlocked until like seven at night.” Chan added.

“Why so specific?” Soonyoung asked with a laugh.

“Jun is a bit superstitious,” Chan sighed, “He likes locking it before dark so  _ monsters  _ don’t get in. I mean, as if monsters actually exist.”

Soonyoung wondered what kind of monsters Jun was worried about coming into the apartment. Surely none like him, even though he didn’t consider himself a monster, some vampires of fiction certainly were.

“But, you’ll probably be home before that’s a problem. Anyway, just let yourself in. You can text us that you’re coming, if you want, but that’s up to you.” Chan laughed.

“Don’t you have another person living there?” Soonyoung asked, also trying to take in where the building they were going to was.

“Yeah, Jihoon, but he’s never home. He’s either locked up in the music building or out with Seungcheol.”

“Who’s Seungcheol?”

“He’s just one of Jihoon’s friends. If you ever come out somewhere with us, you’ll meet him.”

Soonyoung couldn’t help but smile. It was so easy to make friends with Chan, and they barely knew anything about each other. Even so, it was a comfort that Soonyoung had made a friend. It was also good they were already talking since they ended up in the same class, so it saved them from the awkward sitting around before the class began. 

The professor walked calmly into the room, a cup of coffee in his hand, and Soonyoung immediately noticed the smell of it. It was a strong cup of coffee, with a hint of something slightly alcoholic. The professor pulled out a bunch of papers, looking over one while referencing the faces in the class. The class fell into an awkward sort of silence, and Soonyoung turned in his seat to face the front. Chan did the same.

“Okay, I’m going to call roll, and give you the syllabus. Then you can leave, I don’t have the energy to do anything else today. We’ll officially start on Friday.” The professor said, his voice heavy and sleepy.

Soonyoung was confused by this seeming lack of professionalism from the professor, but no one else in the class seemed to mind. He thought professors should at least pretend to want to be there, but times have significantly changed since he had gone to high school in the 70s. Roll was called quickly, the professor asked for nicknames and pronouns from each person. Before he knew it, class was dismissed. 

Chan stood up first, “You sure you don’t want to join us for lunch?”

Soonyoung shook his head, “Not today, I think I’ll get started on the few assignments I’ve already got. You know, before I have my next two classes.”

“Okay, well, be sure to eat eventually.”

Soonyoung nodded, “Thanks, I’ll do that.”

“What’s your schedule for tomorrow?” Chan asked as he put his backpack over his shoulders.

“I’ve got my introduction to drawing class at 8am, then I’m done all day. You?”

“Math at 8am, then art history at 9:30. You should come over to the apartment after your class tomorrow, Jun is off completely and you could meet Jihoon then too.” 

They walked from the classroom together.

“And Minghao?” Soonyoung asked, just to be conversational.

“He’s got a couple art classes, I think. Most of his classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Soonyoung nodded, “Sure, maybe I’ll come by. It’ll save me from the library that way.”

Chan only made a small noise in response. The pair walked together for another few minutes before Soonyoung stopped to make a turn towards the library.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, probably.” Chan commented.

“Sure, and thanks.”

“You’re welcome? But for what?”

“I’ve actually got a friend now,” Soonyoung laughed, pushing Chan’s shoulder lightly.

“Oh, sure! You need a few of those to survive college.”

They waved to each other as they went their separate ways, before they got too far away, Chan turned to shout that Soonyoung should text him. So, as he tried to settle into beginning some work in the library, he sent Chan a text. They were texting often during the day, and even still by the time Soonyoung got back to his apartment after all his classes finished.

Jeonghan was waiting by the door when Soonyoung walked in, startling Soonyoung enough that he almost dropped his phone. 

“How was your day?” Jeonghan asked, smiling widely.

“It was good,” Soonyoung pushed the door shut, pulling his backpack off.

“Make any friends?” Jeonghan followed as Soonyoung walked to the couch, sitting down directly next to the very tired freshman.

“A few.”

Jeonghan slapped a hand onto Soonyoung’s thigh, “Good, glad to hear it.”

Soonyoung rested his head on the back of the couch, “Why am I so exhausted, I didn’t even have classes today.”

“You know, it might have something to do with hunger.” Jeonghan commented.

“I ate the other night though.”

“Yeah, but how long was it between meals?”

Soonyoung paused, “A week.”

Jeonghan laughed, “So you’re still hungry, we can go hunting tonight too. It’d be for the best.”

“As long as we find someone who’s O.”

Jeonghan nodded, “Of course, we’ll leave when it gets dark. Now, start your homework.” Jeonghan picked up Soonyoung’s backpack from the ground, and shoved it into Soonyoung’s chest.

A few hours and many boring textbook pages later, it was finally dark. Jeonghan came into the living room where he had left Soonyoung to do his work.

“You ready?” Jeonghan asked, raising an eyebrow as he noticed Soonyoung’s eyes were glued to his phone.

“Yeah, I’ve been ready for an hour.” Soonyoung said, glancing up after sending his text to Chan.

“Get your shoes on, and let’s go. I’m excited, we haven’t hunted together in years.”

Soonyoung got off the couch, “That’s because you only want to hunt with Joshua anymore, and you think I’m annoying to hunt with.”

“Hey, once you get a partner, you’ll understand.” Jeonghan defended.

“Did I say I was upset?” Soonyoung asked with a laugh as he bent over to tie his shoes.

Jeonghan playfully kicked Soonyoung’s butt, causing him to lose his balance slightly. The pair laughed loudly, rushing out the door and down the building’s stairs. Jeonghan took off running first, Soonyoung followed closely behind him. He wasn’t expecting to hunt this early, but he wouldn’t complain. His biggest problem, aside from breaking concentration, was the taste. He always put it off because, despite O being one of the most common blood types, he never seemed able to find it.

To him, AB was the worst type, and then B. He preferred A over those, but O was the best tasting in his opinion. Everyone was different, though. Jeonghan, for example, preferred AB but settled for A. The other two didn’t quite have a big preference yet. Usually, it was easy to smell a person’s blood type, unless they had heavy amounts of fragrance on them. Soonyoung had smelled the sweet smell of an O blood type on Minghao. It was going to be annoying sitting so close to him and knowing he wouldn’t be able to drink it, but he would bear it.

Jeonghan suddenly slowed down, and Soonyoung matched the other’s pace quickly. They were coming close to a busy set of streets, even for a Wednesday night. The two slowed to a walk, then merged into the crowd. They didn’t speak, but it was obvious they were both attempting to do the same thing. Jeonghan noticed her first, Soonyoung smelling the same thing a moment later. She was walking by herself, head up, with a small smile on her face. Soonyoung did feel sort of bad before he had to feed, he always wondered where the person was coming from or where they were going.

Jeonghan approached her first, “Hey, how have you been?” He asked excitedly, catching her eyes and Soonoyung knew there wouldn’t be any problems.

“Oh, good!” She responded as if she had known Jeonghan for years.

Everyone passing by paid them no mind, thinking it was just a simple reunion between friends. Jeonghan started walking off with her, pointing to Soonyoung as he did, the girl smiled at Soonyoung. The two swapped places, and Jeonghan went back to walk the streets while Soonyoung went off to a lonely place to feed. It was all over within a few minutes.

Jeonghan found him soon after, “How do you feel?”

“Good,” Soonyoung smiled, the sweet taste lingering in his mouth.

“Ready to head home?” Jeonghan asked, but before Soonyoung could respond, he took off.

Soonyoung caught up, but quickly noticed they weren’t returning the way they came. Still, Soonyoung followed without asking. Eventually, the area looked familiar. Jeonghan was going to his campus.

Finally, he spoke up, “Where are we going?”

“To college! I want you to show me the campus, I still haven’t seen it yet!”

“It’s night.”

They both slowed down, and Jeonghan turned, walking backwards, “So?”

Soonyoung rolled his eyes, and laughed lightly, “Fine, I’ll show you around.”

He was only planning on it being a short tour, most buildings wouldn’t be open and the campus only really looked nice in the daytime. Jeonghan seemed interested in knowing exactly where Soonyoung’s classes were. He also took special interest in the library.

“Did you want to go in?” Soonyoung asked, pointing towards the library’s doors.

“No, maybe some other day.” Jeonghan shrugged.

“Are you sure? We can go in.”

Jeonghan paused, “Only if you want to.”

“Let’s just go.” Soonyoung knew that Jeonghan had a weird obsession with looking at non-fiction books just to point out inaccuracies of events he lived through. He had no idea when that started, but he did that even when they first met.

As they walked to the library, a small group of people left the library. They were backlit, so Soonyoung couldn’t see their faces, but he could smell them in the open air; they each had different blood types.

“Oh, there’s an O for you.” Jeonghan whispered, laughing slightly.

Soonyoung didn’t respond with words, but laughed slightly instead.

Someone from the group that left the library suddenly waved in their direction, and Soonyoung turned to see if there was anyone behind them. There wasn’t.

“Soonyoung, it’s us!” Chan’s familiar voice called out.

Soonyoung smiled, but at the same time felt extremely nervous. Jeonghan being with him did that to him. The groups came together, the other three being Chan, Jun, and Minghao, and Soonyoung couldn’t help but glance at Minghao. He couldn’t figure out what was so alluring about Minghao, but Soonyoung couldn’t help but look. It must be his blood.

“What are you doing here so late?” Chan asked, pulling Soonyoung’s eyes from Minghao just as Minghao had made eye contact with him.

“He wanted to see my campus.” Soonyoung pointed at Jeonghan, who nodded to the group.

“Is this Vernon?” Jun asked, holding out a hand to Jeonghan.

“No,” Jeonghan laughed loudly, “Definitely not, I’m Jeonghan, his oldest friend.”

Jun nodded, “Nice to meet you,” he still hadn’t put his hand down, “Soonyoung never mentioned you.”

Jeonghan finally looked at Jun’s hand, and shook it lightly, “Well, I’m surprised. We do live together, so you would think he would have said something.”

“You live with him?” Chan asked now.

Soonyoung nodded, “Yeah, in the same apartment. His boyfriend lives there too.” He added the last part to make sure they didn’t jump to any conclusions, not that he was looking for a relationship, he just didn’t like when people assumed he was dating Jeonghan. He did understand why they thought it, but he didn’t like it.

“Cool,” Chan nodded, “Hey, we’re going to dinner, if you two wanted to come along.”

“We already ate,” Jeonghan responded nicely, smiling warmly at Chan again.

Chan gave Jeonghan an odd look before nodding, “Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

As the three were about to walk off, Minghao smiled at Soonyoung. It was a brief moment, but Soonyoung might have blushed. After the humans had gotten far enough away, Jeonghan chuckled.

“So, what’s his name?” Jeonghan asked, a clear tone of amusement in his voice.

“Who?”

“The one you shared the  _ moment  _ with, duh.”

“What moment?” 

Jeonghan rolled his eyes, “Oh my god, I have to tell Joshua about this.” Instead of turning back to the library, Jeonghan took off running again. Soonyoung groaned, hating that someone probably saw that happen, he took off at a normal paced run until he was off the campus. Then he sped back to the apartment.

Jeonghan was already home and talking to Joshua and Vernon about what had happened.

“The look was like this,” Jeonghan said just before he showed the way Minghao looked at Soonyoung as he walked off.

Soonyoung couldn’t see what Jeonghan was doing exactly, but he could see the reactions from the other two. Both Joshua and Vernon laughed loudly, and looked at Soonyoung.

“Who is he?” Vernon asked, jumping off the couch as his face lit up with glee.

“I have a class with him, and he lives with Chan, don’t worry about it!” Soonyoung shouted, a bit embarrassed.

Joshua let out a loud “oooh,” and Vernon flopped back onto the couch. 

“You like him, don’t you?” Jeonghan asked, sitting next to Joshua.

“I barely know him!” Soonyoung said back, scurrying over to the recliner and burying his face in his hands.

Just as the childish teasing was about to continue, there was a loud knock on the door. Soonyoung looked up, seeing Jeonghan’s happy expression fade quickly. The knock came again, this time making Jeonghan stand up to answer it. They half expected it to be a neighbor, asking them to quiet down. Instead, when Jeonghan opened the door, it was two people they hadn’t expected.

“You should be a bit more careful,” Seungkwan said before anything else could be.

“What are you two doing here?” Jeonghan asked, stepping aside as he invited the two in.

“Well, I just so happened to see someone speed off a certain college campus today. I simply followed one of you here, and then brought Wonwoo with me. So, like I said, you should be more careful. Someone could have seen you.” Seungkwan explained, looking around the apartment. He nodded to Vernon, who looked bothered to see two other vampires in his space.

“At least it was just you two. How have you been?” Jeonghan asked casually, walking back over to the couch after shutting the door.

“Not terrible, and you? I see you’ve gotten someone new to hold your attention for once.” Seungkwan responded.

Jeonghan nodded and quickly introduced Joshua to the others. Soonyoung watched as Wonwoo leaned against the wall, he thought the pair were odd. Seungkwan wordlessly pointed at the open space next to Vernon, but when no response came, he sat on the floor. 

“Why are you here?” Vernon asked, his tone slightly harsh.

Soonyoung immediately jumped in, “Sorry, he just doesn’t trust other vampires easily.”

Seungkwan nodded, “I understand. We just came by for a visit. What were you two doing on that campus tonight? Not hunting, I hope.”

“I go to school there.” Soonyoung answered quickly.

“Oh,” Seungkwan’s face lit up, “I do too! What’s your major?”

“History, you?”

“Literature.”

Soonyoung was about to respond, but Jeonghan jumped in. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen who we were talking to before we left?”

Seungkwan thought for a moment, “No, why?”

“Damn, we’re trying to figure out the name of the one he clearly likes.” Jeonghan laughed.

“A human?” Seungkwan looked over, his eyes wide. Even Wonwoo looked at him with a curious expression.

Soonyoung shook his head wildly, “He’s just my friend, I don’t know why they’re making such a big deal out of it!”


	2. Every Breath You Take

Soonyoung’s 8am class went about how he expected an introduction to drawing class would. The professor was eccentric, talked like he hadn’t slept in 3 years and was running on pure caffeine and an odd sort of rage. Since Soonyoung didn’t get tired like everyone else in the class, he could easily match the energy put out by the professor. It was going to be an interesting class, and because he was enjoying himself, he lost track of time, before he knew it the class had ended. They had gone over a few techniques to practice for the next class, nothing too major that he couldn’t work on while watching some show with Vernon that night.

Before leaving the classroom, Soonyoung pulled out his phone. He distinctly remembered Chan telling him to go to their apartment that morning, and since being invited in yesterday, he easily could. The only problem was what if Chan had changed his mind about wanting Soonyoung over. There was a text from Chan, saying “I’ll be back in the apartment after class, see you then :)”. It was a very direct way of telling Soonyoung to come over.

Soonyoung packed up his art supplies in his very full bag despite only having one class. He had fully prepared any work he still needed to get done for this exact reason. As he stood, he noticed the professor was still wrapping things up in the classroom.

“See you Tuesday,” Soonyoung said cheerfully before leaving.

“Yep, see you then. Hopefully it won’t be just the two of us that are awake for that one.” He responded, standing and dusting the eraser shavings off his pants.

“Doubtful, but one can hope.” Soonyoung laughed as he left the room.

He barely registered the odd look he got from the professor as he left. Soonyoung made his way to Chan’s apartment, checking out the area as he walked. It was too short of a walk to put his headphones in, so he listened to the sounds of the morning. He glanced back ahead of him, and saw who he thought was Minghao walking towards him. The outfit was much different than yesterday’s so Soonyoung was almost not sure that it really was him.

The person he assumed was Minghao was looking down, blowing into a paper cup, the steam fogged up his circle lensed glasses, and the coat he was wearing billowed behind him. He could easily be confused for a professor, except when he looked up, his face was too young for that. The two made eye contact.

“It is you!” Soonyoung smiled brightly, waving.

Minghao didn’t immediately react as the steam cleared from his glasses, but once he could see clearly, he returned the smile. The two reached each other, switching places since Minghao was on his way to class.

“Are you going to the apartment?” Minghao asked first before trying to take a sip of his coffee.

Soonyoung nodded, “Chan asked, or rather  _ told,  _ me to. When are you done with classes today?”

Minghao shook his head, “Not till late tonight, but I have a break from noon until one thirty. If you’re still there, I’ll see you then.”

“You won’t go to the dining hall?” Soonyoung knew he probably shouldn’t keep the other for much longer, but it was their first real conversation.

“No,” Minghao shrugged, “I checked today’s menu, and I think I’ll just cook something instead.”

“Neat, yeah, maybe I’ll be there. I’ll let you get to class.” Soonyoung took a few steps away.

Minghao nodded, and gave him a small smile, “See you later.”

They parted ways, and Soonyoung immediately looked down at what he was wearing. There wasn’t too much of a reason for it, but Soonyoung felt he should start dressing better. He was only wearing jeans and a simple shirt, and standing next to Minghao, who dressed like he had come out of a catalogue, he felt a little self-conscious. Perhaps Minghao wouldn’t want to hang around with someone who dressed so simply. After all, Jeonghan and Joshua did often comment that Soonyoung should upgrade his fashion sense a little bit. If Jun was in the apartment, Soonyoung could ask him for some clothing advice.

Soonyoung took the elevator up to the fourth floor, trying to remember what number they lived in. Apparently, and much to his relief, one of the residents in the apartment decided to decorate their front door with each of their names; so, finding it turned out to be less of a struggle than initially anticipated. He tried the handle and found it unlocked; he knew it would be, but he was also just surprised that it actually was.

“Hello?” Soonyoung called out before stepping into the apartment.

A dish lightly clattered, “Come in!” The person who responded sounded like Jun.

Soonyoung came in, and shut the door behind him.

“Put your shoes wherever!” The same person said.

Soonyoung untied the laces and carefully placed his shoes off to the side, so as to not be in the way of the next person who came in. Everyone else, on the other hand, had their shoes  _ wherever. _ He came fully into the apartment now, finding it exactly like he had left it yesterday. Jun was standing with his back to Soonyoung, reaching into a cabinet. It looked like he was still in his pajamas.

“Who is it?” Jun asked before turning, “Oh, Soonyoung! That’s who I thought it would be. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

Soonyoung nodded, and Jun nodded back, turning around again to finish grabbing what he needed to make breakfast. It looked like he was grabbing an awful lot of things for a meal for one person. But as Soonyoung sat at the small kitchen table, a door in the apartment opened and a completely unknown person stepped out of a dark room.

“Breakfast isn’t ready yet, Jihoon.” Jun said without missing a beat.

“Fine, we need water anyway.” The person named Jihoon responded, his voice still thick with sleep. Jihoon looked at Soonyoung, registering that another person was there as well, “Who’s this? One of yours?”

Jun whipped his head around and gave Jihoon a confused look, “No, that’s just Soonyoung. He’s our new friend. Plus, you know I’m trying to remain detached this semester, I’ve got too much going on.”

“Didn’t stop you last semester.” Jihoon shrugged.

“He’s a freshman.” Jun countered.

“I’m 22.” Soonyoung added quickly, not sure if saying that would help or hurt the conversation.

“So it’s possible,” Jihoon shrugged as he pulled open the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water, “Anyway, nice to meet you Soonyoung, I’m sure we’ll talk again later.” With that, Jihoon walked back into his room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

“Who’s he with?” Soonyoung asked with genuine curiosity.

“Seungcheol, but don’t you  _ dare  _ suggest they are dating to either of their faces.” Jun suddenly pointed the spatula he was holding at Soonyoung.

Soonyoung’s eyes widened in surprise, “Why?” He asked slowly.

“Because they aren’t dating  _ yet  _ and they get weirdly defensive about it. Which, if you ask me, is super weird since we all know they’re into each other, but they won’t admit it for some reason.” Jun sighed once he finished talking.

Soonyoung leaned his arms onto the table, “Is anyone in this apartment dating at all?”

“Nope, and you can only be interested in either Minghao or Chan, because I am pulling myself off the market. Not because you’re not good looking, but because I really do need to focus on graduating and getting a job.”

Soonyoung laughed lightly, “Don’t worry, I’m not really interested in dating anyway.”

Jun only hummed and nodded in response, focusing on finishing the breakfast that was obviously intended for three people. Soonyoung pulled his laptop out and started thinking of a way to ask Jun for fashion advice. They didn’t really know each other, so what would be the best way to ask? Should he just do it straightforwardly or try to casually bring the conversation to it? Honestly, he didn’t know why he was over-thinking about one question.

As Jun was grabbing some plates, Soonyoung cleared his throat, “Hey, could you help me with something non-classes related?”

Jun turned his head slightly, “Sure, what is it?”

“I need to get better clothes.” Soonyoung’s mind drifted back to seeing Minghao only a few minutes before.

Jun laughed loudly, “I cannot help with that, you have to ask Minghao about that one.”

That was the last person he wanted to ask for fashion advice from, “Well, don’t you dress well usually? Why can’t you?”

“Darling, I wear jeans and a button up almost everyday. I don’t dress much different from you.” Jun responded as he finished plating the breakfast, “Are you scared to ask Minghao for advice or something? I promise, he’s not that scary.” Jun was texting someone as he spoke.

Soonyoung shook his head, “No, it’s not that, it’s just that he’s so...you know, and I’m not at that level.”

“Well, you’ll have to get over that fear because I just asked him if he would take you shopping sometime soon.” Jun said, sitting down and starting to eat.

“You didn’t!” Soonyoung said loudly, he could have felt his face flush.

Jun laughed as he took a bite of his food; Jihoon’s door opened at the same time. Jihoon had gotten dressed since he last came out of his room, and was wearing a sweatshirt that almost seemed a bit too big for him.

“Jun, what did you do this time.” Jihoon posed it as more of a statement than a question.

“You saw the text, that’s what he’s upset about.” Jun laughed again.

Jihoon rolled his eyes then looked at Soonyoung, “Minghao will understand if you backed out, just tell him that Jun said something without asking you first.”

Soonyoung considered it, in all his years he’s been alive, he hadn’t felt nearly as nervous as he did in this moment. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have Minghao help him pick out clothes, since he was the one who sparked the whole thing in the first place, but that meant spending a considerable amount of time with Minghao. As nervous as he was, he decided to just go for it. “It’s fine, I don’t have any reason not to.”

Jun clapped his hands together, “See? Not a bad idea!”

Jihoon rolled his eyes and laughed lightly. He noticed that Soonyoung didn’t have a plate, “Are you not eating?”

Soonyoung shook his head, “No I already did.”

Jihoon nodded and handed a plate to Seungcheol. The two sat next to each other.

“Oh, shit, I’m Seungcheol, by the way. We haven’t met.” Seungcheol reached his hand across the table.

Soonyoung shook it firmly, “Soonyoung, nice meeting you.”

When Seungcheol pulled his hand away, his eyebrows furrowed, “Are you cold? We could get you a sweatshirt.”

Soonyoung forced a laugh, “No, I’m fine! I’m always cold, thanks though!”

Seungcheol nodded without another word. They fell into a comfortable silence, Soonyoung pulling out his phone to check emails and other notifications in the meantime. Seungcheol finished his breakfast before the other two, quickly standing and cleaning up his dishes.

“We gonna see you later?” Jun asked, turning in his seat as Seungcheol walked back to Jihoon’s room.

“Nope, I work late,” he answered simply.

“Too bad.” Jun said, finishing up his breakfast as he looked at his phone. He kept his eyes on his phone as he turned his head toward Jihoon, “Yanan’s coming over after his class.”

“When’s that?” Jihoon responded.

“It’s after his 9:30 class.”

“Okay, so he’ll be coming at the same time Chan is,” Jihoon looked at Soonyoung, “If you’re sticking around, you’ll probably wanna be hanging out in Chan’s room.”

“Why’s that?” Soonyoung asked, crossing his legs.

“They’re loud.” Jihoon said.

Jun shouted, “Not in that sense!”

Jihoon gave Soonyoung a told-you-so look, “No one even took it that way.”

“Yeah, well, you still shouldn’t have said it like that.” Jun pouted.

Seungcheol walked back out of Jihoon’s room, saying a quick goodbye to everyone as he left. Jun now gave Jihoon an odd look, making Jihoon narrow his eyes.

“Don’t start.” Jihoon snapped.

“I’m gonna.” Jun stood, walking a few paces away from the table, “You let your boyfriend spend the night, and you thought I would just let that go?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Jihoon flushed, and Soonyoung heard his heart rate increase. The fact that Jihoon had A type blood made Soonyoung’s mouth water slightly, and he wasn’t even that hungry.

Jun mocked him by repeating the same sentence back to him. Soonyoung tried to laugh along to distract himself from focusing on the blood that was rushing through the embarrassed, and frustrated Jihoon. Jun ran into his room, shutting the door behind him, Soonyoung heard the lock click. Jihoon sighed heavily.

“Sorry, he can be annoying sometimes.” Jihoon apologized after calming himself.

His thirst dissipated as Jihoon calmed, and Soonyoung unclenched his fists, “It’s okay. I thought he told me not to say that to you, though.”

“He just thinks it funny to say it, it really doesn’t bother me that much.” Jihoon said, trying to play it off like he was extremely chill with it. Soonyoung considered calling his bluff, but there was no easy way to explain how he knew the other was lying. Instead, he just agreed.

Jihoon stood and started to clear both his and Jun’s dishes, “I’m going to head out in a few minutes, feel free to make yourself comfortable. Chan won’t be back until almost eleven.”

“Yep, got it.” Soonyoung nodded, leaning over to pick up his bag.

“Oh, by the way, you really don’t have to go shopping with Minghao if you don’t want to.” Jihoon added, not looking at Soonyoung as he said it.

“It’s fine, really. It’s probably better that I go with him, anyway.”

“Sure.” Jihoon’s tone was flat, with no indication in either direction of what that was supposed to mean. He went off to his room as Soonyoung pulled his laptop out. Jihoon left the apartment a few minutes later.

He had a little over an hour until Chan was supposed to get back, so he could start on his work in the meantime. It was better to get it over with as soon as he could, he never knew what his friends would want to do once the sun went down. Miraculously, he managed to not get too distracted so he made a large chunk of progress before the apartment’s front door opened. Soonyoung looked up, seeing an unfamiliar face come through the door. They nodded to each other, no words spoken, as the other crossed the apartment to Jun’s room. Their light conversation was slightly audible through the shut door.

Chan came into the apartment at exactly 10:55, shouting in excitement when he noticed Soonyoung sitting at the dining room table. “You came!”   
“You told me to!” Soonyoung matched the other’s enthusiasm quickly.

“Did you meet Jihoon?” Chan asked, tossing his keys into a bowl that was sitting on one of the two small end tables in the apartment.

“Yep, and Seungcheol.”

“Cool. Hey, you’re going shopping with Minghao this weekend?” Chan switched the conversation again with ease.

Soonyoung nodded slowly, “Probably, why?”

Chan shrugged, “No reason, saw it in the group chat.”   
“Did you wanna come along?”

“Nope, I got a bunch of things on campus I have to do, thanks though. You should come back for some of the stuff though, there’s gonna be a movie night tomorrow and on Saturday there’s going to be a game night.”

“Sure, maybe if I’m not doing anything.”

“You could bring the guys you live with, I don’t think it’ll matter if they come or not.”

Soonyoung almost laughed at the idea of Jeonghan, at 115 years old, going to an event with a bunch of people in their early 20s, still it might be fun. “I’ll text them right now, but we’ll still have to see if we’re doing anything.”

“Sure, yeah,” Chan pointed towards the bedroom doors behind him, “You can come into my room to do your work if you want. I’m gonna be starting on it soon, and I prefer to sit at my desk.”

Soonyoung nodded, picking up his backpack and laptop before following Chan to his room. Soonyoung set himself up on Chan’s bed while the other sat at his desk and got right to work. They didn’t even acknowledge each other until half past eleven. That was when Chan let out a loud groan as he got out of his chair.

“It’s time to get some lunch,” Chan announced, looking at Soonyoung.

“You go ahead, I talked with Minghao earlier, and he said he was going to make lunch here today. I thought I might join him.” Soonyoung only briefly looked up from his textbook, not wanting to lose his spot.

“Oh, cool, you gonna be around after that? I have my first shift in the Union at 1 until 3.” Chan asked as he tucked his wallet back into his pocket.

“I might head back home before that.”

“Sick, well, see you tomorrow then!”

“Yeah, have a good day.”

Chan left, and Soonyoung almost wondered if it was weird that he was still sitting on Chan’s bed. However, instead of getting up, he decided to finish the chapter that he was on. It was a load of fancy words, and it took a lot of time to get through it. He heard Chan, Jun, and the other person leave and Soonyoung realized, again, that it might be weird that he was left alone in someone else’s apartment. For all they knew, Soonyoung could be planning on robbing them while they were away. He did think about snooping around, but only for a moment. It would be very wrong to look through their drawers.

Still, he kind of wanted to see what Minghao’s room looked like. He was already in Chan’s, he saw a brief view of Jihoon’s, and he had no desire to look at Jun’s, there was something about Minghao’s room that he wanted to be privy to. He shook his head and looked back at the textbook, trying desperately to understand the concept of dual processing before his psychology class the next day. All he could think about, though, was the fact that he could just peek into Minghao’s room.

No one was there, and no one would be there for at least 20 more minutes. Plus, if someone just so happened to come back while he was looking, he was a supernatural being with incredible speed. He could get back to his seat on Chan’s bed in no time. Basic brain processes be damned, he had a curious cat to kill; he slammed the textbook shut once he stuck the sticky note back in.

Minghao’s room was down the hall from Chan’s, and the door was shut. Soonyoung put his hand on the doorknob, pausing to think through what he was doing one more time before turning the handle. He almost cursed when it actually turned, part of him wanted it to be locked so he could give up there. But, the door opened, and Soonyoung’s nose filled with the intermingling smell of an O blood type, eucalyptus, and mint. It was a familiar smell, but more faint when seeing Minghao in person.

There was no carpet covering any part of the floor, and all the furniture was against a wall. The middle of his room, despite not being a large room, had a paint splattered tarp and an easel. Minghao must have adjusted the room so he could have this specific set up. There was no canvas on the easel, but a few blank ones were leaning against it.

Soonyoung took another step into the room, looking around at the lack of decoration on most walls except for the one around his desk. That wall had a bunch of photos, polaroid and regular; they were mostly of nature scenes and some animals. It was clear photos and painting were where Minghao’s preferences lay. Soonyoung took one more look around the room, not sure what he had expected but getting exactly what he thought.

Before he completely walked out of the room, he paused. But what about the closet? No, he shook his head. He was already invading so much privacy by just standing where he was and he thought he was pressing his luck by doing that. So, he left the room, shutting the door behind him. It would be like he had never even come into the room in the first place. Soonyoung pulled out his phone to check the time again, Minghao would be back in about 10 minutes, time to get back to work.

He settled back into his textbook reading now that his curiosity had been squashed, and the smell of Minghao’s room still lingered in Soonyoung’s nose. Within a few minutes, the apartment’s front door opened, and Soonyoung closed the book again; he still hadn’t finished the chapter, but at least he was able to focus on it better this time. Soonyoung got off the bed and walked back into the apartment’s living room.

Minghao was still standing in the doorway, he was looking at something on his phone as he slowly pulled his shoes off.

“How were your classes?” Soonyoung asked.

Minghao looked up quickly, his glasses slipping down his nose, “Good. I didn’t know you were still here, is it just you?”

“Yes, they all left for lunch almost a half hour ago.”

“You weren’t hungry?” Minghao asked, standing up straight and pulling off his jacket.

Soonyoung gulped nervously, “No.”

“I can cook for you, if you want.” Minghao offered, walking towards the kitchen.

Soonyoung followed him, “No, that’s okay, Vernon said he’s going to cook for me when I get back home.”

Minghao eyed him suspiciously, “Do you ever actually eat?”

“What?”

“Sorry, that was rude of me.” Minghao flushed slightly, clearly wanting to take back his words.

Soonyoung’s mouth started to water again when he heard Minghao’s heart rate increase from the embarrassment.

“No, it’s okay, I’m really just a picky eater.” Soonyoung swallowed thickly, trying to hide the fact that his tastes included Minghao’s blood.

“Okay, sorry again. Do you want me to get something for you anyway? Like a coffee or something?” Minghao leaned against the counter, his heart rate going back to normal.

“Coffee is fine.”

“I’ll start it in a bit.” Minghao nodded, getting started on making his own lunch.

Soonyoung watched Minghao cook without saying anything, it was just interesting to watch how concentrated he was on what he was doing. He started the coffee, then turned to face Soonyoung.

“Are we going shopping together this weekend?” He asked, then stepped towards the cabinet to get a mug.

Soonyoung nodded, “I guess so.”

“What kind of clothes did you want? Jun said you wanted to go clothes shopping.”

“I don’t know, just casual.”

He nodded, “Okay, I’ve got some ideas. When do you want to go?”

“Probably Saturday afternoon, I won’t have time after my classes tomorrow, and I want to try to go to the movie night.”

Minghao nodded, “You’re going to that?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll invite my housemates too.”

“Vernon too?”

Soonyoung suddenly smiled, “Yeah! You remembered his name?”

“I try to.” Minghao shrugged, pouring the coffee and plating his lunch. 

“If he comes tomorrow, you can meet him.”

Minghao nodded, his expression was blank. He slid the cup of coffee towards Soonyoung. They sat in silence, Soonyoung sipping his coffee slowly while Minghao ate. 

“What class did you have this morning?” Minghao asked after a few minutes.

“Introduction to drawing with professor Sunho, do you know him? He told us to call him by his first name, which I thought was a bit weird.” Soonyoung said.

Minghao let out an airy laugh, looking up, “Yeah, he’s my advisor. He’s really nice, but we’ve only talked a few times since I’ve been here. Do you like the class?”

Soonyoung nodded, “About as much as I can from the first day. I’m worried I won’t do well, I’m not the best at art.”

“Says who?” Minghao asked, his tone firm.

Soonyoung was slightly taken aback by the question, “Well, just me.”

Minghao shook his head, “Art takes practice, I’m sure you’re better than you think. We should sketch together some time, I think that would be fun.”

“Yeah but,” Soonyoung laughed, “you’re actually an artist. My stuff would look like shit compared to yours!”

Minghao pouted in a seemingly annoyed way, “You can’t compare yourself to others like that, isn’t there some saying that says ‘comparison is the thief of joy.’”

Soonyoung laughed nervously, “Okay, sure, I can’t promise I won’t do it ever again though.”

“Just work on not doing it, I’ll stop you if you ever start doing it in front of me again.”

“Okay, I’ll be counting on it.”

Minghao smiled, almost like Soonyoung wasn’t supposed to see it. Soonyoung took the last sip of his coffee, setting the mug down lightly; Minghao looked at the mug.

“You finished?” Minghao asked, now looking at his own empty plate.

“Yeah, I can wash up since you cooked.” Soonyoung didn’t want to wash up, but he figured he should at least offer.

Minghao shook his head wildly, “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“But you have to get ready to go to your next class, I’ll clean up while you do that.” Soonyoung stood now, committed to being a good houseguest.

“Are you sure? I can just clean up later.” Minghao said, picking up his lunch dishes.

Soonyoung nodded, “Yes, now get moving.”

Minghao put his dishes in the sink and went off to his room. Soonyoung found the sponge and dish soap dispenser combination off to the side of the sink. He thought it was an odd tool, but it cut the amount of time needed to do the dishes considerably. He had expected it to take awhile to clean up, but it took the same amount of time as Minghao took getting his other things ready for class.

“Are you staying here?” Minghao asked, picking up his coat.

“No, I think I’m going to head back home now.” Soonyoung shook his head.

“Then I’ll walk you out.” Minghao nodded firmly, sitting on the recliner to wait till Soonyoung was pulled together.

Soonyoung checked his watch, seeing that the next block for classes was only 15 minutes away, he rushed to pull his things together. Minghao stood again as Soonyoung came out of Chan’s room.

“You can use my room too, by the way.” Minghao said as he went to the door.

“Huh?” Soonyoung almost paused but kept moving knowing that the other needed to get to his class.

Minghao held the front door open, “I usually leave it unlocked, you can go in there if Chan is ever in his room napping or something. I don’t mind.”

“Oh, okay, thanks.” Soonyoung almost thought Minghao knew he had been into his room, but there was no way that was possible. It was just a simple invitation, after all.

They took the stairs down, it was faster than waiting for the elevator. The two walked side by side for a few feet before Soonyoung had to split off to go to his car.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Soonyoung said, smiling.

“Yeah, I’ll text you.” Minghao waved and walked off quickly.

Soonyoung’s smile widened, the very thought of texting with Minghao filled him with happiness for some reason. He didn’t feel that way when Chan said he’d text, Minghao was just different. If his life was a cheesy romantic comedy, he might have skipped to his car. Instead, he walked as normally as he could. As he got closer to the parking lot, he noticed Seungkwan getting out of the passenger side of a car. The two made eye contact, Soonyoung waved but Seungkwan only nodded. He wondered who the driver was, but they sped off before Soonyoung could find out.

He made his way to his car, almost not wanting to go home right away, but there was nowhere else to go. The drive home was silent, he didn’t even turn his radio on. Home was going to be loud enough, no one in his apartment had things to do but sit around. Sometimes he wished he could do the same but he needed to keep busy doing anything.

When he walked back into the apartment it was deathly silent. Perhaps they were all still resting despite it being well into the afternoon; they didn’t have to be up, so why would they? Soonyoung went to his room, carefully placing his backpack onto his empty desk. Eventually, he would take his things out of the bag, but for now he wanted to lay down. Being around Minghao took a lot out of him, he had to push his strong desire to feed deep down inside him. It was still hard knowing if the reason he wanted to be around Minghao was because of his personality or his blood type. 

He flopped onto his bed, laying on his side. The door to his bedroom opened and shut almost immediately after. Soonyoung looked up but no one had come in; whoever it was must have seen him laying down and left. Instead of investigating, Soonyoung laid his head back down and shut his eyes. The most bullshit part of being undead was that he still needed to sleep. Jeonghan had told him so many parts of being a vampire but conveniently left out all the still-vaguely-human parts of the whole experience.

Some time later, he was woken up by someone laying down next to him. He took a deep breath and rolled over onto his back.

“How was school?” Vernon asked, shifting to give Soonyoung a bit more space.

“It was fine, I only had one class.”

“Damn, how long was the class? You were there forever.”

Soonyoung laughed, “It was only a little over an hour, I just spent some time at Chan’s place.”

Vernon hummed in response, “When can I meet your new friends?”

“Well, actually, tomorrow night there’s going to be a movie night. You can come along if you want, I was going to invite all of you anyway. Chan and the rest of them will be there, I think.”

Vernon sat up, “Cool, let’s do it.”

~~Friday~~

Soonyoung went to his 9am class earlier, hoping to get there early so he could still sit near Minghao. There were a few people in the class, Changkyun being one of them, in the same seat that he was in from Wednesday. Soonyoung sat in front of him, saying a quick good morning.

“Did you do the reading?” Changkyun asked, he didn’t look fully awake.

“Yeah,” Soonyoung nodded, “It wasn’t too bad, just a chapter.”

“I did it all last night, I can’t believe we already had a reading though.” Changkyun sighed.

Soonyoung arched his brows, “Most of my classes already had readings or assignments for today.”

“No, for sure mine too. I just hate it.” Changkyun laughed.

Soonyoung laughed too, even though he didn’t see a problem with the work. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he couldn’t tell that Changkyun had type O before. It was easier to smell with the small amount of people in the room. The fact that he wasn’t currently overwhelmed with the desire to see Changkyun all the time should have told him something about his feelings to Minghao, but he didn’t think about it.

The classroom slowly started to fill, but still no Minghao or Jun. The clock ticked closer to 9, and Soonyoung felt oddly nervous. But, eventually, he heard Jun and the professor’s voices approaching the classroom. The last three people came in. As soon as Minghao came into the classroom, he looked directly at Soonyoung. They smiled at each other.

Once class started, Soonyoung couldn’t help but steal a couple short glances at Minghao. He started feeling like he was in middle school all over again. Still, he wouldn’t admit or try to figure out why he was feeling this way towards someone he hardly knew. Class ended a few minutes early, Minghao immediately turned to Soonyoung.

“Do you have classes after the one with Chan?” He asked, shoving his notebook into his backpack.

Soonyoung nodded, “One is at noon, and the last one is right after.”

“Oh, and you’re going home right after your last one, right?”

“Yeah.”

Minghao hummed slightly, “I wanted to see if you would come over and we could draw together like we talked about. But, we can do it another time.”

Soonyoung could have blushed, “Oh, sorry.”

Minghao shook his head and stood, “No problem, want me to walk you to class?”

Soonyoung stood, completely ignoring the looks Jun and Changkyun were giving each other. “Only if you want to.”

Minghao gestured towards the door, and Soonyoung followed. Jun and Changkyun didn’t immediately follow them. 

“It’s a history class?” Minghao asked as he ruffled his own hair.

The slight morning breeze blew the scent of Minghao’s shampoo into Soonyoung’s face. It smelled like coconut. “Yeah.” 

“Does it have a lot of work?”

“Sure, but it’s mostly essays and readings so it won’t be too bad.” Soonyoung answered.

“I hate writing essays in Korean,” Minghao sighed, “I’m nervous for them in our literature class.”

Soonyoung was suddenly struck with an idea, “Then I’ll help you with those if you help me with my drawing class.”

Minghao looked over, a smile on his face, “Okay, sounds good, let’s do that!”

They split off, Soonyoung going to class and Minghao turning to go back home. Soonyoung met up with Chan in the classroom, and their conversation was light. He couldn’t help but think about spending more time with Minghao. He was able to focus on classes, which was a positive, but it was hard focusing on conversations with other people. He did feel bad about not being able to give others his full attention but his head was only filled with Minghao.

Fortunately, he was able to make it home without getting into an accident. Homework was almost completely out of the question, he was glad it was the weekend so he could put it off until his mind decided to stop focusing on one person. In an absolute uncanny way, Soonyoung watched the clock until movie night.

Everyone agreed to come to the movie night the previous night, despite none of them knowing what movie was even going to be playing. The movie was only going to start at 9p.m, but Soonyoung forced them to show up at 8:30. He was also excited because now his college friends would meet all of his non-college friends. The groups agreed to meet up outside the auditorium. 

The vampires were waiting first, and Soonyoung texted both Minghao and Chan to let them know the group had arrived. 

“What movie is it anyway?” Jeonghan asked, despite it being the third time he alone asked that question.

“I don’t know. I don’t think that matters as much as apparently they’re doing a raffle.” Soonyoung said.

“So, are you trying to impress Chan or Minghao?” Joshua asked now, elbowing Soonyoung lightly.

“Neither, I just think it’d be nice that my friends all hang out.”

“Which one is which again?” An unfamiliar voice jumped in.

The group turned towards the other voice. Seungkwan had suddenly appeared. Most of the group seemed excited, but Vernon still had his reservations about this other vampire.

“What are you doing here?” Vernon asked, crossing his arms.

“It’s movie night, why else? You don’t want me here?” Seungkwan pouted slightly.

“It’s your college, you can do what you want.” Vernon answered simply, turning away.

Seungkwan walked closer to Vernon, he was testing his luck by continuing to tease Vernon, but it was still amusing. Other students walked by while the two bickered, and Soonyoung kept his eye out for his other friends. He recognized one of his other classmates as they walked by, he called out to him.

Changkyun turned and looked around for the source of the voice. He saw Soonyoung and waved, walking over with one other person that Soonyoung didn’t recognize. “Hey, didn’t expect you to be here! What’s up?”

“Nothing really, are you coming to movie night?” Soonyoung asked, gesturing behind him.

Changkyun shook his head, “Nah, I’m just grabbing some food with my friend. Oh, yeah, this is Jooheon, by the way.” He clapped the other person on his shoulder.

Soonyoung smiled and put his hand out to Jooheon, who lightly took it. Jooheon didn’t make a face at all when he touched Soonyoung’s hand, it was almost weird to meet a human that didn’t react to his cold hands.

“What movie is it?” Jooheon asked, smiling warmly.

“We have no idea, but one of my friends invited us so we came.” Soonyoung said.

“I think it’s some old movie, some American 80s movie I think.” Changkyun shrugged, “Well, we should get going, though. See you Monday!”

The three waved goodbye, and Soonyoung turned to look for his friends again. There was about 10 minutes until the movie, and the others were finally walking towards the auditorium. It was four of them, but the fourth wasn’t Jihoon, it was the guy from yesterday. 

When they got close enough, Soonyoung greeted them with a question about where Jihoon was.

“He’s still in the music building, but he’s going out somewhere with Seungcheol in a little.” Jun answered, he was holding hands with the person Soonyoung didn’t know.

Soonyoung only nodded, then went on to quickly introduce the two groups. Time was ticking, and the movie was going to start soon. Chan, Jun, and Jun’s friend, all walked in first, starting a conversation with Jeonghan and Joshua as they did. Vernon, who was trying very hard to avoid the other, was followed by a chatty Seungkwan. That just left Minghao and Soonyoung behind.

“Do you want to skip out on the movie?” Minghao asked quickly, his voice sounding very nervous.

“Do you not want to see it?” Soonyoung answered with another question.

Minghao shrugged, “I’m not big on movies.”

Soonyoung laughed, “Then why did you agree to come?”

“Because you said you were.”

Soonyoung stopped, not sure how to respond. He could have blushed. “Well, if you don’t want to, then we can do something else. Hopefully the others won’t be too mad if we skipped. What did you want to do?”

“Someone told me about this party at the business college that’s like 20 minutes away, I’ve never been to a party like that before so I wanted to go.” Minghao said, pulling out his phone to show Soonyoung an address.

Soonyoung nodded, “Sure, I’ll be your designated driver.”

Minghao smiled, and started walking quickly to the parking lot. It didn’t even cross Soonyoung’s mind that he was his group’s ride, he only knew “take Minghao to the party.” Minghao spoke quickly on the ride over, making sure Soonyoung knew the names of the friends who invited him. There wasn’t a guarantee that they would meet at all, but it was better to know just in case.

The street leading up to the house was lined with cars, Soonyoung had to parallel park between a car that was missing its front bumper and a pristine BMW. They could feel the music pumping in their chests when they got out of the car. Surely there would be noise complaints. Still, the two walked up to the front door, and Minghao pushed it open. The air that hit Soonyoung’s noise almost made him gag. It was an extreme mixture of body odor, weed, alcohol, vomit, and the sweet smell of blood. This was the least appealing mixture of smells.

Minghao immediately grabbed Soonyoung’s hand and pulled him into the throng of people. It was clear that he was looking for someone. Despite the number of people, Soonyoung didn’t feel thirsty, no one’s scents were appealing in the gross mixture. They pushed through to the back of the house. The kitchen was mostly empty, except for the handful of guys surrounded by pretty girls who clearly had too much to drink already. 

“Minghao!” One shouted, he lifted both his arms up and off the shoulders of the girls on either side of him.

“Oh, Jungkook, right? Have you seen Mingyu recently?” Minghao asked, his voice loud over the music.

Jungkook didn’t answer, he just laughed, obviously he too had already had too many drinks. One of the other two looked at Jungkook then at Minghao.

“He’s out back.” This one was sitting on the counter, clearly trying to ignore the girl absolutely begging for his attention.

“He’s with some other guy, though.” The third said.

“Who?” Minghao asked, looking back before walking out the door.

“Dunno, never met him before. Mingyu said they knew each other though.” The third answered quickly.

Minghao pulled Soonyoung out the back door, and the fresh air immediately made Soonyoung’s head clear up. The backyard wasn’t as packed, but there were enough people that Minghao had to stop to look around on the porch. The fresh air brought a slight breeze, there was a smell of the undead on that breeze. Without thinking, Soonyoung stepped closer to Minghao, unsure of who the other vampire was.

Before he could properly assess the danger, Minghao was already pulling him along again. Soonyoung cursed softly, keeping his eyes open for anyone that seemed out of place. He didn’t have to look far, the most out-of-place person was exactly where Minghao was heading. It was just a relief that the other vampire was Wonwoo and not someone random.

The human Wonwoo was with looked over and shouted, “You came!”

“Yeah!” Minghao tried to match the other’s enthusiasm, but his voice didn’t carry as much weight.

“Who told you where I was?” The human giggled, walking forward and leaning against Minghao. The alcohol rolled off his breath and into both Minghao’s and Soonyoung’s faces.

“Eunwoo and Jaehyun.” Minghao answered, pulling his head back slightly.

“Hmm, where was Jungkook?” Mingyu asked, pouting slightly.

“He was there too,” Minghao dropped Soonyoung’s hand to push Mingyu back to an upright position, “He’s just as drunk as you are.”

“See? That’s why I keep trying to get you to drink water!” Wonwoo came up and draped an arm over Mingyu’s shoulder, offering him a half full bottle of water.

Mingyu pushed it away, making Wonwoo grumble, and the human made a disgusted face, “That shit is nasty.”

“It’s water! I watched you take shots of Crown Royal, and you think  _ water  _ is nasty?” Wonwoo sounded frustrated. Soonyoung wondered why he was even putting up with a drunk college student.

Mingyu suddenly put his arms around Wonwoo’s neck, leaning his full weight against the other, “I’ll drink it if you kiss me!”

Wonwoo grumbled again, pulling Mingyu back to his feet, “I’m not going to kiss you if you’re drunk.”

Mingyu looked at Soonyoung, “Consent is verrry important.”

Soonyoung only nodded, he was still processing that it was Wonwoo, a centuries old vampire, trying to force a drunk college guy to drink water. Wonwoo seemed to understand the confusion on Soonyoung’s face.

Wonwoo looked at Minghao, “Can you take him somewhere to sit and try to get some water in him? I need to talk with Soonyoung for a minute.”

“You two know each other?” Minghao asked, already moving to grab Mingyu.

Soonyoung nodded, “Yeah, we’ve met a few times. It’s okay, I’ll find you in a bit.”

Minghao nodded, pulling Mingyu along with him. As soon as the two were out of earshot, Wonwoo pointed at Soonyoung.

“I already know what you’re going to say, and I would not like to hear it.” Wonwoo snapped.

“I’m going to ask anyway!” Soonyoung said back, “Why the hell are  _ you  _ taking care of  _ him _ ? And just how long has it been going on? Does Seungkwan know?”

“Of course Seungkwan knows, nothing gets past him.” Wonwoo chose to ignore the first two questions.

“You can’t get out of the other things I asked.”

Wonwoo shot him a glare, “I could ask you the same things about Minghao.”

“Except, I have nothing to hide when it comes to Minghao. We’re just friends. You, on the other hand, seem a bit closer to yours. Are you planning on turning him?”

Wonwoo quickly looked around to make sure no one heard that, “He doesn’t even know, and I plan on keeping it that way. Are you going to turn Minghao?”

“We aren’t together like that.”

Wonwoo arched his brow “Then why did you come to a party with him?”

“To go to a party.”

Wonwoo scoffed, “Sure, but are you sure that’s what he thinks?”

“What makes you say that? It’s not as if you can read his mind.”   
“Soonyoung, I have been alive for centuries, I have been around humans long enough to understand even their most subtle notions.” Wonwoo said.

“Then you should have become a therapist.” Soonyoung said, rolling his eyes.

“I could have, but I chose computers. Humans get boring, but computers are new.” Wonwoo remarked, “I think we should get back to our dates, I know one needs to go to his room to rest.”

Wonwoo started to walk off and Soonyoung was forced to shout “he’s not my date” as Wonwoo pushed through the crowd. It was going to be difficult to convince a vampire that was hundreds of years old that there was nothing going on between the two of them, but first Soonyoung would have to learn to not get so upset at someone suggesting it. They found Mingyu sitting on a dirty looking patio chair taking a long sip from the water bottle that Minghao was holding against Mingyu’s mouth.

Wonwoo softly thanked Minghao for finally getting Mingyu to drink water. As soon as Minghao took the bottle away, Mingyu jumped off the chair and into Wonwoo’s arms.

“I don’t like him, he’s mean to me!” Mingyu whined.

Minghao’s face scrunched in a mixture of amusement and annoyance, “You have to drink water, you’re fucking drunk!”

Hearing Minghao swear so effortlessly made Soonyoung smile for some reason, it wasn’t a big deal but Soonyoung liked to hear it. Wonwoo gave Soonyoung a knowing look.

“I’ll be taking him to his room, he needs to lay down.” Wonwoo said, and paused, “If you need to get away from the noise, feel free to come to his room. I’ll leave the door cracked.”

Neither Minghao nor Soonyoung responded, they just watched Wonwoo carry Mingyu inside the house. Minghao turned to Soonyoung now, “Let me get you a drink.”

“Just water!” Soonyoung shouted as Minghao disappeared into the house. He waited on the porch awkwardly until Minghao came back. He walked back out of the house with a bottle of beer in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“I’m sort of a lightweight.” Minghao said before starting to drink the beer quickly.

“Then maybe you should slow down,” Soonyoung reached his hand out to pull the beer from Minghao, but the other shifted away.

He shook his head, “It’s fine, I have you in case things get bad.” Minghao smiled, and Soonyoung couldn’t respond. He knew he should make sure Minghao takes it slow, lest he end up just like Mingyu, but his smile made Soonyoung fall into a loss for words. Soon, the first beer was drunk, and Minghao was on the prowl for something else with Soonyoung just trailing behind him.

They made their way back into the kitchen where the person named Jungkook offered each of them a shot of the same Crown Royal Mingyu had drunk earlier. When Soonyoung refused, Minghao downed both of them. Now, Soonyoung grabbed Minghao’s arm.

“Okay, let’s take a break from drinking that stuff for now.” Soonyoung said, noticing that the alcohol was already starting to go to Minghao’s head. He really was a lightweight.

“Let’s dance then.” Minghao said, a small smile on his face. He pulled Soonyoung into the living room where a large group of people were dancing. Minghao draped his arms around Soonyoung’s shoulders and started to sway to the rhythm.

Soonyoung didn’t know where to put his hands, he wasn’t prepared to be this close to him so quickly. The other couldn’t possibly be that drunk yet, his blood only smelled slightly different than usual, could he have been lying about being a lightweight? As Soonyoung thought of the possibility that Minghao was lying, he grabbed Soonyoung’s hands and placed them on his waist. Someone bumped into Minghao from behind, causing them to stumble closer together. Minghao, despite being slightly taller, leaned in to bury his face into Soonyoung’s neck. He giggled slightly. Now the alcohol was making him smell different.

However, despite the smell, Soonyoung’s mouth started to water. Minghao’s scent was like the others but hit in just a way that felt different. He tried to not breathe too deeply, worrying that if he did, his vampire urges would creep in. Without warning, Minghao lifted his head slightly, his face directly against Soonyoung’s neck.

“Mmm, you’re so cold.” Minghao said, his voice vibrating against Soonyoung’s skin.

“I know.” Soonyoung tried to pull them apart, but Minghao kept his grip on Soonyoung’s shoulders tight.

“I should warm you up.” Minghao closed the little space they had left, Soonyoung swallowed thickly.

Soonyoung felt his phone go off in his pocket, he let one hand off Minghao’s waist and tried to keep moving to the music while he checked the text. He had gotten a bunch of texts from the people he abandoned, but he hadn’t felt his phone going off until that moment. He was suddenly aware of everything because of Minghao’s proximity.

‘Where the fuck did you two go???’ Vernon’s text was the most recent.

Soonyoung managed to respond with a quick ‘went to a party’ only using one hand. He added ‘is the movie over?’ a second after. Vernon responded with a yes.

“Minghao, we have to go back.” Soonyoung said, trying to push Minghao off again. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it, but he almost didn’t want to pull away.

Minghao only whined in response, so Soonyoung exerted a bit more strength just to pull them apart. He took Minghao’s hand, dragging him to the door. They passed some of the guys from earlier. Jungkook, despite being super drunk, was trying to push a drunk girl out the door with her sober friend.

“Heeey, can you take her to their car?” Jungkook looked at Soonyoung, a plastered look on his face.

Soonyoung looked back at Minghao, then at the sober girl. She was clearly struggling as she tugged her friend’s arm. The drunk girl kept trying to reach out and kiss Jungkook, but he kept refusing and telling her to leave. Minghao suddenly walked in front of Soonyoung and put his arm around the girl.

“Let’s go, he’ll like you better if you’re sober.” Minghao said, his words harsh but tone soft.

The girl whined, “But I wanna spend the night with him!”

Minghao leaned into her ear but he didn’t whisper when he spoke, “It’s better sober anyway.”

The girl giggled and finally stopped trying to climb on Jungkook, Minghao led her out the door, letting her friend take her arm. Once the two walked off together, Minghao turned back to Soonyoung, waving for him to join him. Soonyoung said a quick goodbye to Jungkook, who had already turned back to the party, and followed Minghao. 

The drive back to their campus wasn’t quiet, Minghao turned the radio on and sang along to all the songs, even if he didn’t actually know all the words. He was just having a good time, it made Soonyoung smile. The parking lot on campus wasn’t very full, Soonyoung parked as close to the building as he could. Minghao didn’t immediately unbuckle his seatbelt, he turned in his belted seat towards Soonyoung.

“I wish we could have stayed longer.” He pouted slightly.

“Sure,” Soonyoung nodded, “Maybe another week, though.”

Minghao suddenly shifted closer, their faces inches apart. Neither of them moved for what felt like a long time, but Minghao moved away first, getting out of the car. Soonyoung jumped out after, worried that Minghao might fall over despite him not being incredibly drunk. The two walked back to the auditorium, unsure of where their friends would be. Soonyoung checked his phone, Vernon told him they were waiting in the cafeteria whenever they decided to show up. He told him they were on their way in.

“They’re in the dining hall.” Soonyoung said.

Minghao let out a slight gasp, “We can eat something!” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet; with his other hand, he took Soonyoung’s hand like he had at the party. Once again, one of the two was pulling the other along. 

Soonyoung had never been in the dining building aside from the tour, and he had certainly never been in the dining hall itself. He knew that there was someone swiping I.D cards to get in, and that was about it. Minghao walked up to the girl swiping the cards and handed her his card. He leaned against the table and said something to her in another language; she slid the card through the reader twice, responding in the same language. She must be another one of the international students from China. 

She glanced down at their hands as they walked by, and she gave Soonyoung a bright smile. He could only give her a shy smile in return, it was still weird to be holding his hand so publicly like this. Plus, as soon as his friends saw them holding hands, he knew he would never hear the end of it. And, as predicted, once Joshua saw them walking over, he immediately pointed it out to everyone at the table. They all turned at once.

“What is going on here?” Jun shouted, drawing attention from people at other tables.

Minghao smiled and giggled shyly, “I’m drunk.”

He really wasn’t that drunk, he had to be using that as an excuse; at least 4 others in the group would know that he was lying about it too. Minghao slumped into a chair next to Vernon, leaving the only open chair between Minghao and Chan. Soonyoung didn’t sit.

“Did you guys want to get home?” Soonyoung looked at his housemates.

They all nodded, Vernon even turned to Seungkwan to say bye before saying anything to the humans at the table. Soonyoung looked down at Minghao, “I’ll see you tomorrow, right? Text me when you wanna go.”

Minghao nodded but looked slightly disappointed that he was leaving.

~~Saturday~~

By midmorning, Minghao finally texted that he was ready to go shopping whenever. Soonyoung texted back, after a few minutes, that he was on his way. He pulled up in front of the apartment building, immediately texting Minghao that he was out front. The text barely went through by the time Minghao strolled out of the building. He hopped into the passenger seat, 

He was wearing sunglasses, but they were almost hanging off the end of his nose. Thankfully, he was dressed more casual than he did during the week. Soonyoung didn’t feel worried about what he was wearing for once. 

They had been driving for a few minutes when Minghao suddenly spoke, “Sorry about last night.” 

“Sorry for what?”

“I kept holding your hand last night, I didn’t even ask you if I could do that. And the dancing-”

Soonyoung laughed loudly, “You don’t have to apologize for that! I don’t mind, it was a party. That’s just what people do!”

“Can I ask for your permission now though? I like holding hands with my friends, it’s nice.” Minghao asked shyly.

Soonyoung quickly glanced over, there was a slight blush on Minghao’s face, “Of course.”

“Okay, cool.” Minghao straightened in his seat, and the conversation moved to where they would be going when they got to the mall. It was more of Minghao stating they would be going to a certain store and Soonyoung just agreeing.

By the time they got there, Minghao had their whole afternoon planned, from the stores to when and where they would be getting lunch. They went to a few stores, not buying much, and then it was time for the planned lunch time. Soonyoung only bought iced coffee from Starbucks, and Minghao didn’t comment.

The first couple stores were busts only because Minghao would pick something out, hold it against Soonyoung, shake his head, then put it back. At the first store they went to after lunch they had more success. Minghao was happier with those choices for Soonyoung. He even found a few things he liked, one being a sweatshirt that Soonyoung also happened to like.

“We could both get one, wouldn’t that be cool? Then we could wear them together.” Soonyoung laughed as he picked one out too.

Minghao checked the tag, then sucked in a breath as he shook his hand. Soonyoung’s nose filled with the smell of fresh blood, his head snapped up.

“Just a paper cut,” Minghao laughed slightly, sticking his finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding.

Soonyoung’s mouth started to water, he felt an intense pressure in his mouth. If he opened his mouth right now, Minghao would see his fangs. He couldn’t believe how out of control he felt in this moment, he had fed recently and he was used to being around people who got small cuts like that. Soonyoung stared at Minghao’s hand, trying to calm himself down.

“Are you okay?” Minghao asked, pulling his finger from his mouth.

The bleeding had stopped, but Soonyoung still wasn’t over the sensation. He couldn’t stop himself from grabbing Minghao’s hand, he looked at the injured finger. He was confident that he wouldn’t try to bite him in the middle of the store, but it was tempting.

“Soonyoung?” Minghao asked softly, adjusting his hand so he was now holding Soonyoung’s.

The feeling slowly subsided, the pressure in his mouth faded, and he could now look up at Minghao’s eyes without worrying that something would be off.

“Sorry, I don’t like seeing people get hurt.” Soonyoung apologized.

“It’s alright, you just looked paler than usual. Do you need to go somewhere? We could just go pay quickly, and leave.” Minghao was still holding Soonyoung’s hand.

“Sure, let’s just go pay.” Soonyoung nodded, he was feeling alright but he thought it best to leave now in case the urge jumped back up.

Minghao continued to hold onto Soonyoung’s hand as they walked up to the counter, when Soonyoung moved to pull out his wallet to pay, Minghao pressed his hand against Soonyoung’s back. He was acting like Soonyoung was going to pass out; he wasn’t, but Minghao didn’t know that. Minghao took the bag as they left.

“I’ll drive.” Minghao said firmly.

“I’m fine, I can drive.” Soonyoung said, reaching to take all the bags from Minghao.

Minghao pulled the bag away, “No.”

Soonyoung looked at the other, a sudden wave of thirst hit him for some reason.

“I’m taking you home, and I can get a ride back to campus from someone else.” Minghao said, giving Soonyoung a worried yet hard look.

The thought of Minghao in an apartment full of vampires bothered him, but he figured there would be no point in trying to argue with Minghao about this. He seemed set in this decision. They walked out to the car, Soonyoung handed Minghao the keys reluctantly, and Minghao even helped Soonyoung into the car. As much as he did not need the help, he did like the extra attention Minghao was giving him.

Since Minghao had never been to Soonyoung’s place, Soonyoung had to give directions as they went. Despite not knowing, Minghao drove quickly. Soonyoung didn’t know if he usually drove this fast or if it was just because of the situation. He pulled his phone out to warn his housemates about Minghao coming over, but put it back in his pocket before he could explain why.

The car was parked in it’s assigned spot, and Minghao told Soonyoung to move slowly as he got out of the car. Soonyoung did move slowly, but it was because he was nervous about having Minghao in the apartment. He wasn’t in danger necessarily, but humans were fragile, as was already proven by the small papercut from earlier. Anything could happen, and then it could be four versus one; those odds were not in Minghao’s favor.

They got to the front door, and Soonyoung paused before unlocking the door, “Listen.”

Minghao gave him a curious look, making Soonyoung forget what he was about to say.

“It’s just a little messy, sorry.” Soonyoung said quickly, knowing that was not what he wanted to say but what he said nonetheless.

“It’s fine, just go in. You should probably lay down.” Minghao nodded towards the doorknob.

Soonyoung nodded slowly as he unlocked the door. As he walked in, he saw Joshua jump off the couch in a very non-human way, but he regained his human composure once he saw Minghao. Jeonghan walked into view as the door shut.

“Everything okay? You look a bit worried, Minghao.” Jeonghan asked smoothly.

“I got a cut while we were shopping and Soonyoung almost passed out, I’m going to help him to bed.” Minghao explained, grabbing Soonyoung’s arm to offer some extra balance while he took off his shoes.

Soonyoung looked up at Jeonghan, who gave him a worried look; Soonyoung only replied with his eyes, trying to convey that everything was alright. He led Minghao to his room, finally being allowed to grab the bags, but he just tossed them off to the side.

“You should lay down.” Minghao’s grip on Soonyoung’s arm was still tight.

“I’m really fine,” Soonyoung said with a slight whine.

Minghao lightly pushed Soonyoung to sit on the bed, “Okay, then just sit.” Their hands touched as Soonyoung’s arm slipped out of Minghao’s grip, he looked concerned again, “You’re cold, are you sure you’re okay?”

Before he could answer, Minghao was sitting next to him, Soonyoung’s hand firmly in Minghao’s grip. Soonyoung felt something else rise up inside, something he hadn’t felt in what felt like forever. It was such a foreign feeling that he didn’t even know what to call it. His eyes drifted to Minghao’s lips, and it took a lot to look back up at Minghao’s eyes. He had no idea what the other was thinking, but he was sure it wasn’t the same.

“I’m...fine.” Soonyoung managed to force out. They were sitting so close together, he could feel Minghao’s warmth against his thigh and in his hand. It was an oddly human feeling.

“You should at least wrap yourself with your blanket to warm up.” Minghao didn’t move.

Soonyoung shook his head, “I’m always cold, it won’t help.”

“You don’t feel cold?”

“Not right now.”

“Should I stay longer?”

The question startled Soonyoung, whatever daze he had fallen into, he suddenly snapped out of. “Maybe you should get back home, don’t you have any homework?”

“It’s the weekend, I can do it tomorrow if you need me to stay.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want to stay? You don’t have to.”

Minghao didn’t answer for a moment, “You don’t want me to stay? Then I’ll leave.” He went to stand, the heat from his body suddenly leaving and Soonyoung was hit with his crushing reality again. He grabbed Minghao’s arm to stop him.

“No, you can stay. I might sleep, though.” Soonyoung said quickly.

Minghao sat again, “Fine, I’ll stay by your side then, maybe I’ll keep you warm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not uploading the chapter last week, it was a rough week and the chapter wasn't ready to be posted last Friday. If you read what I had last week compared to where it is now, I know you all would have been so mad lol. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. I'm already working on next week's chapter, so that should be out on time! If I ever have to skip a week, I'll post about it on my twitter (baybehbrenton) or my IG (abittoten)


	3. When It Started to Begin

The sun was going down, and Soonyoung was watching the shadows lengthen against his walls while listening to Minghao’s breathing. His head was on Minghao’s chest, he could hear his heart beating so clearly. At some point, he had fallen asleep to the sound, but now he was awake and Minghao was still sleeping. Slowly, Soonyoung took the hand that had gotten cut earlier. The cut was already mostly healed, but he still felt guilty about how badly he wanted to bite Minghao earlier.

Minghao suddenly took a deep breath, his resting heart rate increasing as he woke up. Soonyoung didn’t immediately drop the other’s hand, thinking it would have been odder to act like he was doing something wrong.

“Are you feeling better?” Minghao asked, his voice still groggy.

Soonyoung nodded, watching as Minghao intertwined their fingers.

“You’re still cold.” Minghao commented.

“I told you, I’m always cold.” Soonyoung looked up at Minghao’s face without lifting his head off his chest.

“I know, I just can’t get used to it.” Minghao nodded.

There was loud laughter somewhere in the apartment making Minghao look towards the door. He let go of Soonyoung’s hand and quickly pulled out his phone, “I think I should ask Chan to pick me up.”

Soonyoung sat up slowly, “I can drive you back.”

Minghao shook his head, “It’s fine.” He sat up, putting his phone on the bed, it was still unlocked. 

Soonyoung looked down, trying to read the text upside down. When he looked back up, Minghao was looking back at him. His face was only lit by the small amount of sunlight coming through the window. The same feeling from earlier started to creep up in Soonyoung’s mind. He wasn’t thinking about biting Minghao, nor was he really thinking about anything at all. Slowly, he shifted forward, and Minghao did the same. They were so close, Soonyoung could feel Minghao’s breath against his face.

Without words, Soonyoung kissed Minghao on the lips, pulling back quickly. He heard Minghao’s heart rate increase just before he grabbed the back of Soonyoung’s neck to pull him back in. Even though he was the one who started it, Soonyoung was surprised at the reaction. Both of Minghao’s hands were against Soonyoung’s face, and the vampire instinctively put his hands on Minghao’s waist. The human shifted closer, getting on his knees and forcing Soonyoung’s head back, his fingers weaving through the vampire’s hair. Soonyoung should have stopped it at that moment, but he didn’t. He felt Minghao’s tongue press against his lips, his grip tightened on Minghao’s waist.

Minghao’s heart was beating quickly and it was starting to drive Soonyoung a bit crazy; he couldn’t help but pull Minghao directly against him. Minghao suddenly bit down on Soonyoung’s lip, it didn’t hurt but it was surprising nonetheless. He wanted to bite the other back so desperately now, he could feel the pressure in his mouth. The pounding of his heart, the smell of his blood, and his proximity only worsened the feeling. 

Soonyoung drug his nails against Minghao’s back, the only barrier between his skin was his shirt. He was about to pull it off when a few loud knocks on his door stopped him. Minghao pulled away, looking towards the door, his face clearly flushed despite the darkness of the room.

“Who is it?” Soonyoung called out, hoping they wouldn’t open the door.

“Jeonghan. I wanted to know if you two were awake, and if Minghao needed a ride home.”

“Someone is going to pick me up soon,” Minghao responded, he pulled away from Soonyoung now, his heart beat was going back to normal. The moment was over.

“Okay, just checking.” Jeonghan walked away from the door.

Minghao got off the bed, finding the lightswitch, and flipping it on before he started going through the various bags from their shopping trip. He pulled out the stuff that he bought, folding it and putting it next to him. Soonyoung watched him from where he sat on the bed. He looked back down at Minghao’s phone as a text from Chan came through, he said he was a few minutes away now. 

“Chan is almost here,” As he spoke, Soonyoung realized how odd he sounded.

Minghao picked up the clothes before he stood, he turned to Soonyoung, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, I started it.” Soonyoung said quickly.

Minghao shook his head, “No, you kissed me once, I turned it into that whole thing. I don’t want that to ruin things between us, I can’t explain it. I just wanted to kiss you, and I’m sorry for biting your lip like that. We can still be friends, right?”

Soonyoung jumped off the bed, “Minghao, it’s okay. I...kind of liked it.”

“Kissing me or me biting you?”

He hadn’t even thought about the biting, honestly he was only thinking about the rush that came with the kisses, “Kissing you.”

Minghao blushed, “I should go.” He rushed to get his phone from the bed, but before he left the room, Soonyoung stopped him.

“I’m sorry if I took it too far by kissing you first.” 

“It’s fine,” He was almost breathless, “I’ll text your or call you later.” Minghao opened the bedroom door and walked out, trying to be casual as he walked by Soonyoung’s housemates.

Soonyoung followed as far as the living room, watching as Minghao slipped his shoes back on, and left the apartment. Soonyoung now looked towards the couch, finding four people sitting in the room, Seungkwan being a surprise.

“What?” Soonyoung almost snapped.

“Mad disrespectful to almost fuck your boyfriend while we are all literally sitting out here.” Vernon said, his tone joking.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Soonyoung glowered. 

“Let’s review the last 24 hours then shall we?” Jeonghan said, slapping his hands on his thighs, “First, you invite us all to a movie night but abandon us to go to a party with Minghao. And at said party, you two danced super close together. Then, you come join us in the dining hall holding hands. Now, today, you go out shopping together, take a nap together, and then literally almost have sex. Am I missing anything?”

The other three shook their heads, laughing loudly.

“How did you know about the dancing?” Soonyoung asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Wonwoo told me.” Seungkwan said, “He literally saw you two when he was getting more water for Mingyu.”

“You guys are reading into it too much, there’s nothing going on.” Soonyoung defended.

“Dude, we literally heard how fast his heart was beating. If there really is nothing then I’m the fucking Tooth Fairy.” Joshua said, crossing his arms.

Soonyoung grumbled nonsense under his breath as he sat in the empty chair, “Well, now what is Seungkwan doing here?”

Vernon laughed loudly, “Oh, see, now you’re mad because you know we’re right!”

“I’m not mad!” Soonyoung snapped.

“If you’re not mad, then why are you shouting?” Seungkwan responded with a smirk.

Soonyoung stuck his tongue out at both Seungkwan and Vernon, “I’m just hungry.”

“We can go hunting tonight,” Vernon suggested, he was still laughing slightly.

“Fine, but first tell me why Seungkwan is here.” Soonyoung said, pressing the issue again.

“I dunno, he just showed up.” Vernon shrugged.

Seungkwan looked mildly offended before letting out a shocked laugh, “What the fuck? You invited me.”

Vernon slightly scowled at the other, “I did not, you invited yourself over.”

“Okay whatever, but  _ you  _ didn’t say I couldn’t.” Seungkwan rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs.

“He’s been here almost all day,” Joshua whispered towards Soonyoung.

Jeonghan nodded quickly, “They’ve been in Vernon’s room.” He added.

“So jump on that, why are you all on my case then.” Soonyoung pointed at the two.

“Eh, they’re not as fun to poke fun at.” Joshua shrugged.

“Just last night they couldn’t stand each other, and now they’re best friends?” Soonyoung asked, wondering just how much he missed while at the party.

“No, I still can’t stand him.” Vernon laughed, and Seungkwan just agreed.

Soonyoung just rolled his eyes, “When can we go hunting?”

~~Sunday~~

He didn’t sleep much on Saturday night. Despite being full, Minghao’s scent still lingered in his room, keeping him up. Focusing on homework was hard, it took him much longer than it should have to complete everything he needed to do that weekend. Around 8am he tried to lay down again, burying his face into the pillow Minghao had been laying on. Soonyoung slept for only 2 hours that morning, but it would be enough. 

The first thing he did after waking up was check his phone. There were a lot of texts that he ignored from the day before, mostly from his college friends. He was nervous that he did something wrong yesterday and now they were all telling him to never speak to them again. Soonyoung checked the texts from Jun first, he had sent the least.

The first one was sent at 5pm on Saturday: ”How did shopping go?” The second was only sent a few minutes before he checked his phone: ”Hello??? Are you still sleeping??” Soonyoung sent a quick text back, apologizing for only just getting up and that the shopping went fine.

The texts from Chan, however, were more concerning. Chan had sent almost 10 separate notifications and the most recent said “Are you mad at Minghao or something?” Soonyoung didn’t want to open them, but it would be better than ignoring them more.

<5:09pm> Are you feeling better now? Minghao said you almost passed out while shopping

<7:23pm> Did you do the assignment for Mon. yet? 

<7:30pm> ???

<9:13pm> lol dude are you good? Minghao is worried

<9:14pm> I mean, I am too but he asked me to ask

<10:01pm> < _ Missed call _ >

<10:03pm> Did you go back to bed or something? Are you okay????

<11:47pm> As soon as you see these, you have to call Minghao. He’s pacing the apartment and won’t tell us why

<12:00am> Sorry for sending so many texts, I’m worried

<12:15am> Are you mad at Minghao?

Reading the texts made him feel incredibly guilty, he didn’t mean to ignore them reaching out like that, but yesterday made him so anxious. Minghao had left his apartment so quickly, he thought Minghao was mad at him. Soonyoung didn’t immediately respond to Chan though, despite thinking he should. Instead, he checked all the messages from Minghao. There weren’t many but some were wordy.

<5:30pm> Thanks for going shopping with me today, we should go again sometime and maybe that one will go better.

<8:15pm> Can I call you at some point tonight? I want to talk to you about what happened in your room, it’s nothing bad I just think we should actually talk about it. If you don’t want to call, that’s fine, we can text about it instead. 

<10:30pm> I hope I’m not annoying you by sending all these texts, I’m just worried I’m overthinking things and I think we should talk. If you’re not feeling up to it today, that’s okay. Just let me know. At least tell me.

<2:06am> You probably aren’t awake and I’ll probably regret texting you this, but I hope we can do what we did earlier again. We don’t know each other super well, so if you want to wait, I can too. There’s something I like about you and I really don’t understand it. This might be too forward for only knowing each other for a week, but I have to get it off my chest now so you know where I stand. I hope you aren’t ignoring me because I did something wrong, please text me back when you see these. Or call me. 

Soonyoung read the last text a few times, sitting up in his bed as if that was what was wrong the first time he read it. He really shouldn’t have put off reading the texts until now, but how could he have known what was going on with Minghao. He took a deep breath and started a call to Minghao.

He answered on the second ring, “Oh my god, you’re okay.”

Soonyoung felt an odd sort of breathless, “Yeah.”

“Did you,” Minghao paused, “did you see my texts?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, let me explain, I was talking to Jun and he told me to send it. It probably wasn’t a good idea, I know, but you just weren’t responding and I needed to say it. I’m sorry if that just completely ruined everything before it really started, We don’t have to rush into anything or even go anywhere with it if you don’t want it.” Minghao was talking quickly, he sounded nervous.

Soonyoung didn’t say anything at first, knowing that was just going to make the other even more anxious than he already was. “I haven’t dated in a long time so I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to have an answer.”

“No, you deserve one. The thing is, I can’t stop thinking about you, and for reasons I really can’t explain right now.”

“I understand.” Minghao said simply.

Soonyoung suddenly wanted to scream through the phone, because there was no way Minghao understood the urges he had to drain Minghao of his blood. “We should get to know each other better first, there’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

“I’m fine with that.” Minghao said.

Soonyoung sighed, “I’m sorry for ignoring all your texts. It wasn’t about you really, I just thought you were going to be mad at me and I didn’t want that.”

Minghao laughed, “I thought you were mad at me because you didn’t respond.”

“Well, since we aren’t mad, could I-”

“Come over? Yeah.”

Soonyoung smiled, “Okay, I’ll be there soon. I need to shower and get dressed first.”

“Okay, I’ll be here. See you soon.” Minghao said, his voice sounded softer.

“Yeah, see you soon.” Soonyoung responded, hanging up the phone. He jumped off his bed, rushing to the bathroom. He passed Seungkwan in the hallway, but he didn’t even stop to ask why he was still there. 

The water was only lukewarm, Seungkwan had probably just showered before Soonyoung got in. He brushed his teeth while in the shower, knowing that if Joshua found out he did that there would be a whole conversation about it. After drying off, he rushed back to his room, picking out something from the clothes he had bought yesterday. He probably didn’t have to try that hard, but he didn’t know if going to visit Minghao would be considered a date.

As he left his room, fully dressed with still slightly damp hair, Jeonghan stepped out of his own room. The older eyed Soonyoung up and down, arching his brow.

“Where are you off to in such a rush?”

“Nowhere.” Soonyoung skirted past him, heading to the door.

Joshua came out of their room too, “Visiting your boyfriend?”

“He’s not-whatever.” Soonyoung rolled his eyes and turned to hide his shy smile as he put on his shoes, “I’ll be back later.”

“You don’t have your backpack!” Joshua shouted as Soonyoung walked out of the apartment. 

He rushed down the stairs and out to his car. Campus was quieter than it had been on Friday night. There were less cars in the lot and no one was out walking as he went to Minghao’s building. He took the elevator to the fourth floor, walking into the apartment confidently.

“Look who it is!” Chan shouted, he sounded like he was trying too hard to be angry.

“Ooh, the big man of the hour.” Jun joined in.

Soonyoung swallowed thickly, worried that he was actually going to get yelled at by them. Instead, Jihoon walked out of his room with a stern look on his face. He actually seemed mad, unlike the other two.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after practically ghosting Minghao like that.” Jihoon said, he crossed his arms as he spoke.

Soonyoung looked at Chan and Jun, “Ghosting?” Neither Vernon or Joshua had taught him that word.

“You ignored him for like 15 hours!” Jihoon said loudly, a volume Soonyoung was surprised he actually had.

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Soonyoung defended, “I thought he was mad at me!”

“Well, he  _ should  _ be mad at you, but it seems that he isn’t. If you ever pull that shit again, I will come to your house and beat the shit out of you.” Jihoon didn’t look like he was joking about it.

Soonyoung nodded and laughed nervously, “Okay, I won’t.” He slowly made his way to Minghao’s room, rushing through the door to get out of Jihoon’s sharp gaze. Minghao looked up from his desk, pulling off his headphones, and smiling.

“Are you okay? Did they say something to you?” Minghao asked, standing.

“Jihoon threatened me but nothing too major.” Soonyoung laughed awkwardly.

Minghao shook his head, “He won’t actually follow through with it, he’s actually a huge softie.” He quickly hugged Soonyoung tightly, “I’m glad you came over.”

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot we have to talk about.” Soonyoung said, pulling away.

“Sure, we have to actually get to know each other. That’s how most couples work.” Minghao walked over to his bed, he sat and patted the space across from him.

As Soonyoung walked over, he wished he had talked with Wonwoo before coming over. Wonwoo at least had experience in a relationship with a human that he never intends to expose to the truth. This would be one time Jeonghan would not be helpful, he tells people about being a vampire as soon as he knows he can trust them. Soonyoung did not want Minghao to know about it, but it would unfortunately answer so many questions.

He sat across from Minghao, not knowing what to expect. Minghao started by asking basic questions, like where Soonyoung grew up and what all he does for fun. They took turns sharing things about themselves and asking about things the other mentioned. It took an hour and a half till they finally ran out of new questions.

Minghao checked his phone for the time, “It’s almost 1, I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

“Okay, you should eat.”

Minghao slumped his shoulders slightly, “I know I shouldn’t ask, but you do eat right?”

Soonyoung tried to laugh but it didn’t come out, “Yeah.”

“Do you not like eating in front of people?”

“Something like that.”

Minghao nodded, “I want you to feel comfortable enough to eat in front of me, I don’t know what I’ll have to do to help you, but please let me know.”

Soonyoung swallowed, “Minghao…”

“You don’t have to feel pressured! I don’t want you to do it just because I’m saying it.”

“It’s not that,” Soonyoung bit his lower lip, “I can’t explain, I just don’t want you to hold your breath on that.”

Minghao shook his head, “Don’t worry!”

After that, Minghao went to get lunch, leaving Soonyoung alone in the room, per his own request. As soon as he was alone, he texted Vernon to ask for Wonwoo’s number. Vernon texted back a minute later. Soonyoung jumped off the bed, shutting Minghao’s door so he could have a little privacy while calling.

“Hello?” Wonwoo answered the call after a few rings.

“Wonwoo? It’s Soonyoung.”

“Okay, did you need something?”

“How do you talk to Mingyu without telling him everything?” 

Wonwoo paused, “What exactly do you mean? It’s an easy subject to avoid.”

“He doesn’t ask you questions about you not eating or stuff like that?”

Wonwoo chuckled, “Is Minghao asking that?”

“Yes.” He decided to not try and hide it anymore, 

“I simply lie to him.”

Soonyoung didn’t have words for a moment, “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what do you say?”

“I make excuses, saying I’m either not feeling well or that I already ate. It’s easy, he’s not incredibly intelligent enough to see through it. He asks about getting food much less often now.” Wonwoo’s voice was flat as he spoke.

“So, should I just lie to him the whole time?”

“You already are by pretending to be human.”

Soonyoung felt a sense of realization sweep over him. For some reason, it had not quite occurred to him that he was lying already, so he shouldn’t be worried about adding something else to cover up the first one. “I really don’t want to lie to him.”

“Then don’t,” Wonwoo responded almost instantly, “You are old enough to decide if you want to tell him or not, you know the consequences if you do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I made plans to visit Mingyu today. I will talk with you later.”

“Yeah, see you later.” Soonyoung said as he pulled the phone from his ear. He locked it and put the phone onto his bed before putting his head into his hands. He hardly noticed someone coming into the room.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Minghao asked as he sat down on the bed.

Soonyoung snapped his head back up, “Oh, no one really, just the guy we ran into at the party the other night.”

“Mingyu or the guy he was with?” Minghao’s expression looked different from when he had left.

“The other one, Wonwoo.” 

Minghao nodded slowly, “I don’t trust that guy.”

Soonyoung laughed in surprise, “Why?”

Minghao shrugged, “Just a feeling. How do you know him?”

“He’s one of my housemate’s old friends, we don’t really know each other very well.”

Minghao only nodded, he shifted on the bed slightly. The movement seemed stiff and almost like he was uncomfortable, but he had only just sat down. It seemed odd that he would already be uncomfortable. “You know, if you don’t like me, you don’t have to pretend.”

Soonyoung shook his head in confusion, “What?”

“I heard some of what you were saying on the phone, are you lying to me about something?” Minghao looked back up at Soonyoung, his expression clearly showing he was hurt.

“That’s not what you’re thinking-”

“Then can you tell me what you were talking about?”

“It’s really complicated.”

“So it was about me?”

Soonyoung didn’t know what to say, “Yes, but it’s not about  _ us _ , it’s more about the eating thing.”

“Okay, explain.” It was obvious that Minghao was trying to not sound as hurt as he looked.

He thought up a way out of the situation quickly, “I don’t like talking about food with people, it makes me feel nauseous but I get embarrassed about feeling like that. I didn’t want to tell you that because I got anxious about you laughing at me.”

Minghao’s expression didn’t change, “So why were you talking to Wonwoo?”

“Because he has a similar problem, and Jeonghan thought we could support each other or something.”

Minghao nodded, “Alright, so it has nothing to do with you not actually being interested in me.”

“No, I am very interested in you.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Soonyoung wanted to slap himself. That sentence made him feel weird and a little creepy.

But, instead of it bothering Minghao, he chuckled slightly. He suddenly leaned in and kissed Soonyoung’s cheek quickly, sitting back and his face flushed, “There, now we’re both embarrassed.”

Soonyoung laughed, glad that Minghao wasn’t upset with him. 

“But please don’t lie to me, I want you to be honest with me.” Minghao said firmly.

~~

They weren’t able to see much of each other outside of classes that week, but whenever possible, they would be together. Minghao would make lunch in his apartment on Tuesdays and Thursday and Soonyoung would sit and talk with him until it was time for Minghao’s next class. Neither had made any real mention to any of their friends about the state of their relationship, and in truth they hadn’t decided to define it for themselves yet either, but Soonyoung knew the question would come up eventually.

On Friday, after their literature class, Minghao walked Soonyoung to the history building, as he had made into a habit. For the first time, Minghao took Soonyoung’s hand. The movement was deliberate and casual, and Soonyoung barely noticed it happened. 

“What are you doing tonight?” Minghao asked.

“Vernon and I are going out somewhere around 8, but I’m free after that.”

Minghao hummed in response, “I was thinking we could go see a movie or something. Would you want to do that after your thing with Vernon? I saw a listing and they have some later showings, it’s mostly scary movies though.”

“Sure, we can do that. We’ll be back by 9 probably, so you can pick a time after that.”

“Cool, would it be okay if I invited Mingyu and Wonwoo to come along?” Minghao asked, pulling his phone out as they reached the history building.

“I mean, sure, if you want to.”

“Okay, I’ll text you the plans in a bit. Will I see you after your classes are done today?”

“Probably not, I have to get some work started.”

Minghao nodded, he quickly leaned in to kiss Soonyoung’s cheek, “See you later.”

Soonyoung waved as he turned into the building. He still had a few minutes before class began, but Chan wasn’t in the class yet. Soonyoung sat silently, getting his notebook and pen all set when Chan came into the class. He gave Soonyoung an odd look.

“So.” Chan said as he said.

“So?” Soonyoung asked, turning towards his friend.

“You and Minghao?” He asked, leaning in slightly.

“What about us?”

“I saw him kiss you, are you two, like, dating now?” Chan asked, he seemed interested yet skeptical.

Soonyoung shrugged, “We haven’t talked about that yet.”

Chan slapped his hand on the desk lightly, “Fuck.”

“What?” Soonyoung shook his head in surprise.

“Nah, it’s nothing.” Chan waved his hand to dismiss the question.

Soonyoung reached over and lightly slapped Chan’s knee, “No, come on, tell me.”

“It’s really nothing, I mean, Jun, Seungcheol and I placed bets on you two.”

“Bets?” Soonyoung chuckled, wanting to hear more about it.

But before Chan could answer, the professor started to get the class ready for that day’s lesson. Chan looked over and mouthed a quick “tell you later” as he turned towards the front of the room. The minute class ended, Soonyoung turned back to Chan.

“Okay, so bets?”

“Right, yeah, so we kind of placed bets on when you two would start dating. I mean, we all assumed you would because of the way Minghao would talk about you when you weren’t there. And also, because of last week, he just suddenly decided to go to movie night because you were going.” Chan packed up his stuff as he talked.

“So when did you think?” Soonyoung asked, throwing his backpack over his shoulders.

“You two have until this Sunday, so don’t let me down, it’ll be the easiest $40 bucks I’ll ever make.” Chan laughed.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Soonyoung nodded and stuck his hand out to shake Chan’s. It didn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea to have an answer to the dating question by Sunday. They seemed to like being around each other enough as it was now, so why not become boyfriends.

Soonyoung went to the rest of his classes without any other issues, heading home as soon as his last class ended. Surprisingly, no one was home when he got back. No one had even left a note or texted him to say when they would be back. Still, Soonyoung got to work on as much homework as he could before his brain decided it was done for the day.

He walked back into the living room, sitting on the couch to flip on the tv. He wasn’t sitting there for long when Vernon and Seungkwan came into the house. Those two had been spending much more time with each other recently as well, it was good to see that Vernon was learning to trust another vampire for once.

“Where did you two go?” Soonyoung asked, noticing a plastic bag in Seungkwan’s hand.

“Just some shopping,” Vernon answered, “We were a little bored.”

“Vernon bought me a new hat, wanna see?” Seungkwan asked, already reaching into the bag he was holding. Soonyoung nodded, knowing his response wouldn’t actually matter, Seungkwan was already showing him the hat.

“It’s nice.” Soonyoung commented.

Seungkwan nodded and walked off to Vernon’s room. Before Vernon followed, he stopped as if he just remembered something, “Oh, he’s going to stay over tonight, but we’re still good to go hunting. It’ll just be us.”

“Got it, 8 right?” Soonyoung nodded.

“Sure, unless you wanted to go later.”

“No, I think Minghao and I are doing something after.”

“Cool, see you in a bit then.” Vernon went to his room, and Soonyoung turned back to the terrible show he had put on for some noise. 

Joshua came home as the episode was ending, and Soonyoung hardly noticed him coming in. The younger sat next to Soonyoung on the couch, settling down and shutting his eyes.

“Where were you?” Soonyoung asked, barely taking his eyes off the tv screen.

“Looking for a job.” Joshua didn’t open his eyes as he said it.

“And where’s Jeonghan?”

Joshua shrugged, “I think he’s out somewhere with Wonwoo.”

Soonyoung didn’t ask anymore questions, he pulled out his phone and let Joshua rest. At some point, Minghao had texted and said he bought tickets for the movie at 9:45, and they would need to pick Mingyu and Wonwoo up on the way. He responded with a quick “okay, see you then :)” and went back to watch the new show.

Around 7, Jeonghan finally came back home. Joshua woke up as soon as Jeonghan walked in the door. Both Soonyoung and Joshua noticed how odd Jeonghan looked.

“What’s wrong?” Joshua asked, holding his hand out for Jeonghan as he walked over.

“We got some weird feelings from some people while out today. It was these two guys, and they kept looking at us, following us, and whispering to each other. I don’t know, maybe they thought Wonwoo and I were a couple and they were just homophobic, but it felt different from that. I haven’t been that worried since the 20s.” Jeonghan’s expression looked as if he had seen a ghost.

“What do you actually think they were doing?” Joshua asked, clasping both of his hands around Jeonghan’s.

Jeonghan shrugged, “Could be hunters, but it doesn’t seem likely. There’s no way they could have known about Wonwoo and I.”

“It’s probably the homophobia,” Soonyoung said, trying to put Jeonghan at ease, “I mean, were you two acting like a couple?”

“No, but I mean everything about me seems a bit gay, doesn’t it?” Jeonghan suddenly laughed, his expression finally went back to normal, “Yeah, you know what, it probably was just good old homophobia, nothing to worry about.”

Jeonghan slipped next to Joshua on the couch, forcing the two to move over to give him some extra room. An hour later, Vernon came out of his room, followed by Seungkwan.

“You ready?” Vernon looked at Soonyoung.

He got up, “Sure, where are we going this time?”

“Haven’t been to Gapyeong in a while, wanna try there?” Vernon asked, picking up his keys.

“Sure, why not?” Soonyoung grabbed his keys as they finished getting ready to leave.

Before they walked out, Jeonghan called out to them, “Be safe!”

They both thanked him and left. 

“What was that about?” Vernon asked, holding the door to the stairwell open.

“He got some weird looks from a couple guys while he was out with Wonwoo today, he did think they could be hunters.” Soonyoung explained as they ran down the stairs.

“Damn, well keep your eyes peeled for weird looking guys then.” Vernon responded.

“Oh shit, weird looking guys? I think I found one.”

Vernon spun around to shoot him a hard look before bursting into loud laughter, “I did walk into that one.”

The pair took off in the direction of that night’s hunting spot. Vernon slowed down when they got closer to a small town, he was immediately looking for his person of interest, and for once, so was Soonyoung. There were a few hours until he was meeting Minghao, but he still wanted to get home with plenty of time before the movie would begin. Vernon found his meal first, and Soonyoung found his within a few minutes. He was feeling a bit braver than usual, so he decided to try his best with the luring part.

He walked up to a man who was walking by himself, “Come with me,” Soonyoung whispered into the stranger’s ear.

The man instantly turned, his eyes looking glazed. Despite being out of practice, the method of compelling someone came back to him easily. Soonyoung led him to a quiet place, backing the man against a tree and gripping his shoulders tightly. It felt oddly romantic and for a split second, Soonyoung’s mind pictured it was Minghao he was holding against the tree. In that moment, Soonyoung’s connection to the stranger was broken and the man looked around wildly. He tried to get away from Soonyoung, but Soonyoung was stronger. It was going to be difficult getting control back, so Soonyoung did the only thing he could think of. In a swift movement, he bit down on the man’s neck.

The man struggled at the pain, but Soonyoung kept drinking. He felt an immense amount of discomfort killing someone who was clawing at his shirt, but he was doing it to survive. That was just the way it had to be. When the man went limp, Soonyoung let him go, laying him onto the ground.

“What happened with that one?” Vernon asked, coming up from behind.

“It was all fine until I had him against the tree, I started to think about that guy being Minghao.”

“Did you want it to be Minghao?” Vernon looked at the man laying on the ground.

“I don’t know.” Soonyoung admitted, looking away as the man took his final breaths.

“Well, I’m sure we’ve all been there.”

“You mean to tell me you wanted to kill someone you liked?” Soonyoung gave Vernon a doubtful look.

“Oh no, I did. I literally killed the girl I was dating after I got turned.” Vernon said it so casually, it completely took Soonyoung off-guard.

“Okay, well, that was just an accident, you didn’t know how to control yourself yet.”

Vernon let out a light laugh, “Sure, an accident.”

Soonyoung decided not to press the issue, neither really like to talk about the person Vernon was before he met Soonyoung.

“Wipe your mouth before we leave.” Vernon said with a nod, his demeanor had completely changed. He took off without another word.

Soonyoung wiped the corners of his mouth and followed after Vernon. By the time they got home, it was getting very close to the time Soonyoung needed to pick up Minghao. He didn’t have time to double check himself for blood splatters, Vernon did help with the extra blood around his lips before Soonyoung got into his car.

Minghao was waiting on the curb when Soonyoung pulled up. He smiled as he got into the car, “You know where you’re going to get Mingyu and Wonwoo right?”

“Mingyu lives at the house we went to last week right?”

Minghao nodded, buckling his seatbelt.

“I don’t know where Wonwoo lives.” Soonyoung said as he pulled away.

“He’s at Mingyu’s right now.” Minghao said, switching on the radio.

The first song that played was one of Soonyoung’s favorites. He had heard it a lot when he lived in America; it was an old song and he was surprised to hear it playing on a Korean radio station. Minghao flipped the station, a more modern song started to play now.

“Oh, did you not like that one?” Soonyoung asked.

“I don’t know old songs, especially not English ones.” Minghao said, settling back into his seat.

“I love those old songs, it’s probably the nostalgia of them.” Soonyoung smiled fondly, thinking about his time in the States.

“Nostalgia? For an American song from the  _ eighties _ ?” Minghao was in disbelief.

Soonyoung laughed awkwardly, forgetting that he can’t just say he has nostalgia for a time he was technically not supposed to have lived through, “Oh, maybe that’s not the right word. Vernon and I listened to those songs a lot.”

Minghao nodded in understanding, “Okay, that makes sense.” 

When they pulled up in front of the house, there were already a lot of cars outside.

“Are they having another party?” Soonyoung asked, trying to pull up as close as he could.

“Yeah, that’s why Mingyu wanted to go somewhere else tonight.” He was texting someone quickly.

Soonyoung had barely parked the car by the time Mingyu and Wonwoo were getting in. He waited to drive until they were both buckled.

“So, what’s this movie about?” Wonwoo asked first once the car started moving.

“It’s some vampire movie, the reviews sounded good.” Minghao answered.

Soonyoung wanted to see the look on Wonwoo’s face, it was probably similar to his own. 

“Is it scary?” Mingyu asked, leaning forward.

“Probably,” Minghao answered simply.

Mingyu shuddered, “Oh no.”

“I told you it would probably be a horror movie.” Minghao said, turning in his seat.

“I know, but I’m nervous about it! I don’t like vampires!” Mingyu whined.

Wonwoo and Soonyoung both let out slight laughs, it sounded natural because of the conversation, but they both had the same thought about Mingyu’s comment.

“Don’t laugh at me! You know I hate scary things.” Mingyu whined a little louder, his last sentence directed to Wonwoo.

Wonwoo actually laughed now, “It’s okay, I’ll protect you.” Mingyu suddenly let out a shout of laughter and Minghao reached behind him to smack them.

“Stop it!” Minghao snapped.

Soonyoung turned his head to see Wonwoo almost pinning Mingyu down in the backseat, “Gross, not in my car!” He was almost jealous that Wonwoo could do something like that so comfortably in front of others, but he was from a different time when that kind of thing did happen. At least, that’s the impression Soonyoung got.

When they got to the theatre, Soonyoung and Minghao got out of the car quickly while the other two took their time. As they walked into the building, Mingyu asked if anyone wanted a snack. It ended up being on Mingyu who got some popcorn.

The actual theatre they were in was mostly empty, so they practically had their choice of seating. Mingyu wanted to sit all the way in the back, stating that he felt safer there. He sat first, and Wonwoo next to him.

“Do you want to sit next to Wonwoo?” Soonyoung asked, before starting down the row of chairs.

“No, you can.” Minghao answered, following Soonyoung down the aisle.

Mingyu and Wonwoo were in their own conversation as they waited for the movie to start so Soonyoung turned with his back almost completely to Wonwoo to talk to Minghao.

“Do you usually like vampire movies?” Soonyoung asked.

Minghao shrugged, “It depends on the vampire movie, I only like sexy vampires.”

“What’s a sexy vampire? Not Twilight, right?”

Minghao laughed, giving Soonyoung an amused look, “No, I mean like  _ Interview with the Vampire _ . I think vampires are only cool if they have that homoerotic factor.”

“Do you think vampires are scary at all or just sexy?” Soonyoung was asking for a few different reasons, out of curiosity and just to see where he actually stood.

“They can be both, and I like that about them.” Minghao looked at Soonyoung and it made Soonyoung feel weird. It was a feeling he didn’t think he could explain. Minghao smiled, “Do you like vampires?”

He found his words quickly, “Sure, what’s not to like?”

“Then I picked a good movie.” Minghao shifted in, closing the space between their faces just as the theatre went dark. Soonyoung half expected to be kissed, but Minghao sat back in his seat. He did the same.

The movie started off fine, but almost halfway through the horror and suspense aspect picked up. Mingyu’s heart rate increased substantially, Wonwoo shifted in his seat as it did. Minghao was still relatively calm, but he grabbed Soonyoung’s hand tightly at the first jumpscare. 

Wonwoo leaned over to Soonyoung, “We’ll be back.” Wonwoo whispered, and Soonyoung could practically hear the smile on his face.

“Oh my God,” Soonyoung whispered without thinking, he looked over at Wonwoo in disgust.

The two got up and quickly left their seats.

“Where are they going?” Minghao asked, pulling Soonyoung’s hand closer to him.

“Didn’t say.” Soonyoung answered.

Another couple of minutes went by, and Soonyoung noticed Minghao’s heart rate started to increase, but there wasn’t anything happening on screen. He thought it was odd, and was going to ask if the other was alright, but before he could, Minghao shifted and put his hand on Soonyoung’s cheek. He pulled Soonyoung’s face closer to his, he kissed him lightly. The increased heart rate now made sense.

Soonyoung kissed Minghao back, feeling Minghao bring his other hand to Soonyoung’s face now. They were trying to be as quiet as possible, knowing there were other people in the theatre that could turn around at any point and see them. Minghao broke the kiss to place several kisses on Soonyoung’s neck. Soonyoung put his hands on Minghao’s waist, the chair’s arm making it an awkward position.

Minghao paused before kissing Soonyoung’s lips again, pressing his tongue against the other’s lips. Without thinking, Soonyoung let Minghao deepen the kiss. He was worried someone would hear them, but the movie was loud. Despite having just fed earlier, the feeling from the movie and the anxiety from kissing in public, Soonyoung felt himself starting to lose some control. Much like last week, he wanted to bite Minghao, it felt like something that he had to do.

Soonyoung moved towards Minghao more, not realizing his phone was getting closer and closer to sliding out of his pocket. It clattered to the floor. The two immediately pulled away from each other as it did, Minghao snapping back to sit regularly and Soonyoung bending over to pick up the phone. Just like before, the moment had ended before Soonyoung lost complete control.

Minghao laughed lightly once Soonyoung sat up and looked at him. He covered his mouth and leaned over, leaning against Soonyoung and placing his head onto Soonyoung’s shoulder. His heart rate slowed. But, unlike Minghao, Soonyoung felt like he couldn’t relax. He still wanted to grab Minghao’s arm and bite down. That feeling wasn’t going away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for that short break the other week, I gave you all two kissing scenes lol  
> See y'all in a week :)


	4. I Was Made For Lovin' You

By the time Mingyu and Wonwoo came back into the theatre, the movie was almost over. It didn’t seem like either of them cared too much about missing most of it. Plus, their absence had been slightly advantageous to Soonyoung and Minghao. Once the credits began to roll, and before the lights even came on, Mingyu stood up.

“Are we going anywhere after this?” he asked, leaning against the row of chairs in front of them.

Soonyoung looked to Minghao, who shook his head.

“Wasn’t planning on it, it seems almost too late to get food, and I’m kind of tired. I wanna get back.” Minghao said, standing up as well.

The four left the theatre, almost in a rush, and no one brought up the movie. Obviously, the intention of that night was not to actually watch a movie. As soon as they were in the car, Mingyu and Wonwoo were on top of each other again. Soonyoung looked back in the mirror, seeing that Mingyu was clearly leaning on top of Wonwoo despite the vampire not being seen in the mirror.

“Am I taking you back to your place, Mingyu?” Soonyoung asked, pulling out of the parking spot.

“No, we’re going to mine. Seungkwan isn’t going to be home.” Wonwoo answered.

“You’re going to have to tell me how to get there.” Soonyoung said.

“Give me your phone, I’ll put the address in. I can’t believe Seungkwan didn’t tell you where we live.” Wonwoo said, reaching his hand out.

Soonyoung passed his phone back to him, “Seungkwan and I don’t really talk, he spends most of his time with Vernon.”

“Who’s Seungkwan?” Minghao asked, taking Soonyoung’s phone back once Wonwoo was finished.

“Wonwoo’s roommate, and he does go to our college.” Soonyoung answered.

“Huh, I mean, the name is slightly familiar.” Minghao nodded, setting the phone into the holder.

Soonyoung didn’t say much else, listening for instructions from the GPS. Minghao was on his phone, while the two in the back giggled to themselves. Their dropoff point couldn’t have come sooner. Soonyoung wished them a quick goodnight as they climbed out of the backseat.

“Do you know how to get back to campus from here or should we put that into this thing too?” Soongyoung asked, picking his phone up.

“You can put it in the phone.” Minghao responded, putting his own phone down.

Soonyoung took off as soon as the address was in.

“Can I admit something?” Minghao said, he was fidgeting nervously.

“Sure, what’s up?” Soonyoung asked, glancing over quickly.

“I sort of invited them along because I wanted to see how you were with Wonwoo.” Minghao admitted quickly.

“What?”

“I was worried you were lying to me, and that you were actually seeing Wonwoo on the side or something.”

Soonyoung laughed lightly, “Why would you think that?”

Minghao shrugged, “I don’t know, it just made me anxious.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry. I am not at all interested in Wonwoo, and I don’t think he would even give someone that isn’t Mingyu a second glance.”

“Yeah, I know that now. I do believe you, but I just wanted to make sure with my own eyes, I guess.” Minghao sounded almost embarrassed as he said it, as if Soonyoung was going to be upset or would laugh at him.

Soonyoung reached his hand over to put it on Minghao’s thigh, “I understand, don’t worry.”

Minghao’s anxious heartbeat began to calm down, the sound put Soonyoung at ease. He could listen to the sound of Minghao’s heart for hours, and he wanted to say something about it but knew he shouldn’t. Instead, he sat in silence, the only sounds from the drive and Minghao’s heart. The closer they got to campus, the anxiousness rose back in Minghao. Soonyoung glanced over a few times, just to check and see if Minghao was looking alright. He seemed fine, but there was something a bit off about it.

“Are you okay?” Soonyoung asked.

“Oh, yeah, I was trying to think of a way to ask you this, but did you want to stay over with me tonight?” Minghao said, his voice was back to being nervous like earlier.

Soonyoung pulled into the parking lot, “I don’t have anything with me.”

“Oh, okay, then nevermind.” Minghao sort of slunk back into his seat.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Soonyoung said quickly, “I want to, but what if you stayed at mine?”

Minghao sat up slightly, “I can run up and grab everything I need.”

Soonyoung pulled into a spot, and nodded quickly. Minghao smiled warmly, and jumped out of the car. Soonyoung sat back in his seat, leaving the car running, he smiled to himself as he waited. A few people walked by his car, no one catching his eye or even giving him an ounce of their attention. Except, two people walked by at one point, and one slightly nodded towards Soonyoung. At first, Soonyoung didn’t think the guy was nodding at him, but just in his direction. However, as they got closer, Soonyoung realized they had nodded at him. The guy was the friend of Changkyun he had met a week ago, but the other was a stranger.

The stranger looked muscular, almost threatening if not for his soft facial features. They approached the car, and the one Soonyoung recognized knocked on the window. He rolled it down only slightly, and with a large amount of caution.

“Are you Soonyoung?” He asked, leaning in to the window.

Soonyoung only nodded, he felt anxious. There was something he didn’t like about these two.

“It’s Jooheon, we met like a week ago? What are you doing here so late? Thought you were a commuter.” The guy said, smiling.

“I’m waiting for someone.” Soonyoung answered, attempting to sound casual.

“Oh, who?” He asked, looking around the empty lot.

“Minghao.”

Jooheon stood slightly, looking at the guy he was with. They both laughed slightly and the other mentioned they knew him through another friend’s girlfriend’s friend. So far, the interaction was going well but Soonyoung still felt uneasy.

“Oh, and speak of the devil, here he is now!” Jooheon said loudly.

Soonyoung didn’t even turn to look as Minghao approached the car, he was too worried to look away and have something happen.

“Hey, Minghao, how are you?” Jooheon said nicely.

“Oh, I’m good, how are you?”

“Excellent, and much better now that I know Soonyoung isn’t just being creepy in the parking lot by himself.” Jooheon laughed.

Minghao laughed as well, but he sounded more uncomfortable, he put his bag into the car, “Why would you think that?”

Jooheon shrugged, “He was just sitting out here, it seemed a bit odd, and you can never be too careful these days.”

“Sure,” Minghao said, he clearly wanted out of the conversation. He went to climb into the car but Jooheon stopped him.

“Hey, stay safe, buddy.” The way Jooheon said it set off a sort of warning bell in Soonyoung’s mind. He immediately remembered what Jeonghan had been talking about earlier that day. Soonyoung looked back at the stranger as Minghao shut the door. The stranger gave him an odd smile, it almost seemed knowing. Soonyoung shut the window, and pulled away as quickly as he could.

He knew he was driving faster than usual, but Minghao said nothing about it. There had been no time to warn his housemates that Minghao was coming, and even if there had been it had completely slipped his mind. He tried his best to not rush Minghao into the building once they arrived, but it was obviously not enough.

“Are you okay? Did Jooheon and Hoseok say something to you?” Minghao asked as he got pushed into the elevator.

“I’m fine,” Soonyoung said, tapping the button to their floor quickly.

Minghao grabbed Soonyoung’s hand, “No, you’re nervous.”

“It’s really hard to explain right now,” Soonyoung said, squeezing Minghao’s hand a little too tightly than he should have.

Minghao hardly flinched at the grip, Soonyoung didn’t think to loosen up at all. He pulled the other along to the door. Vernon and Seungkwan were sitting in the dark living room, watching a movie on the tv. They both turned towards the door, confusion on their faces when they saw Minghao was with him.

“How was your movie?” Vernon asked.

“Can’t really remember,” Soonyoung responded quickly, still pulling Minghao along. He pulled the other into his room, “I have to go talk to Jeonghan, you can go ahead and get ready for bed.”

Minghao looked confused, and almost winded, as Soonyoung rushed from the room to go to Jeonghan’s. The older opened his bedroom door, squinting at the light that came in from the hallway.

“What? We were trying to go to sleep.” Jeonghan sounded mildly annoyed at the intrusion.

Still, Soonyoung pushed his way into the room, pushing the door shut behind him. Joshua sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes and the bedsheet fell from his shoulders. 

“You were right.” Soonyoung said before anyone else could speak.

“About what?” Jeonghan asked, yawning.

“Hunters.” Soonyoung stated.

Jeonghan stopped mid-yawn, and Joshua looked at him with a panicked look, “How do you know?”

“Two of them saw me in the campus parking lot while I was waiting for Minghao. One of them literally told Minghao to stay safe before he got into the car with me.” Soonyoung said quickly.

“And Minghao is in this apartment right now?” Joshua asked.

“Yes, but not the point,” Soonyoung quickly dismissed that comment, “Listen, I know one of them is friends with one of my classmates, his name is Jooheon but that’s all I know. What are we supposed to do?”

Jeonghan sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed, “You won’t like it.”

Soonyoung had a feeling he knew where this conversation was going, “Just say it anyway.”

“If they actually know about us, the next step is to leave.” Jeonghan said.

“No.” Soonyoung said quickly and firmly, hoping to not sound angry. “I’m not leaving now, things are just getting started here.”

“Then you have to hope they don’t have any proof, and you’ll have to be incredibly careful that they don’t find out. You’re going to have to act as human as you possibly can, that  _ includes  _ you having to eat human food if they offer it to you.” Jeonghan’s voice was hard.

“Fine.” Soonyoung said.

“I’ll talk to Wonwoo in the morning, and see what he thinks too.” Jeonghan laid back onto the bed, “For now, just work on being human and keeping this whole thing a secret. I’ll mention something to Seungkwan and Vernon too.”

Soonyoung nodded, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jeonghan responded as Soonyoung left the room.

Soonyoung was shutting the door as Minghao came out of the bathroom. They smiled at each other, and Soonyoung couldn’t help but feel relieved to see him. He knew he would still be in the apartment, but he also weirdly thought he was just imagining that Minghao was there.

“Everything okay?” Minghao asked, quickly eyeing Soonyoung up and down.

He nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine.”

Minghao smiled again, walking back to Soonyoung’s room. He had changed into different clothes, now he was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. The collar of the shirt hung loosely, showing a lot of the skin around Minghao’s neck. It almost felt like he was teasing Soonyoung.

Minghao set his bag onto Soonyoung’s desk and sat down on the bed, placing his keys onto the bedside table; he watched as Soonyoung went to get changed. The older almost felt shy changing in front of someone else, and it was hard to even begin to pull off his shirt; so he excused himself to the bathroom to actually change. By the time he got back, Minghao was now lounging across the bed, laying on his side with his head propped up on his hand. He looked up as Soonyoung walked in, smiling.

“I didn’t notice your posters the other day,” Minghao commented, sitting up onto an elbow, “Are tigers your favorite animal?”

Soonyoung felt his face get hot, remembering that Vernon and Joshua poked fun at him when he came home with those posters, “Yeah.”

Minghao looked back at the one, “It’s cool.”

“You don’t think it’s weird?” Soonyoung asked, still feeling a bit self-conscious about it.

The other laughed, “No, it’s cute.”

Soonyoung felt the wave of relief wash over him, sitting on the bed. Minghao immediately laid his free hand across Soonyoung’s waist.

“What did you think of the movie?” Minghao asked, not looking up.

“It was good, not much like other vampire movies I like. It was almost too violent.” Soonyoung commented. The worst part of the movie was how bloody it got when the vampires would bite their victims, he would never rip someone’s throat out like that. It’s too wasteful.

“Yeah, the biting wasn’t anything special. They went too quickly.” Minghao commented, moving his arm to grab Soonyoung’s.

“Oh?” Soonyoung looked down at Minghao, curious to see where this was going.

Minghao sat up now, “Like I said earlier, I only like sexy vampires. I think it’s better when they bite cleanly.” His eyes were on Soonyoung’s neck. A shudder ran through Soonyoung; Minghao leaned in, his breath rolled against Soonyoung’s skin. “Like this,” he suddenly bit down on the space between the base of Soonyoung’s neck and his shoulder.

It didn’t hurt, but Soonyoung let out a gasp. The last time someone actually bit him was back in the late 70s when Jeonghan turned him. It didn’t feel the same as then, this time it actually felt fine. This time, he wasn’t about to die.

Minghao let go, but before sitting back, he kissed the same spot, almost as if to kiss it better. He looked up at Soonyoung, smiling shyly. Soonyoung didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t used to being bitten, but he did sort of like it. Just as Minghao was about to say something else, Soonyoung shook his head.

“Do it again.” He said, if he had breath he would have been breathless.

“Aren’t you worried about having too many marks?” Minghao asked, he laughed slightly.

Soonyoung shook his head, “I don’t bruise easily.”

Minghao got off the bed, “Okay, but I want to do it like those romantic era vampire movies. Lay down.” He pointed to the pillows.

Soonyoung moved immediately, laying his head against the pillow, watching as Minghao climbed back onto the bed. The human sat on Soonyoung’s hips, leaning over and placing a hand on either side of Soonyoung’s head. Minghao moved as slow as he did the first time, giving him lighter bites at different places, mixing the bites with kisses. He gave Soonyoung a harder bite on the side of his neck, and as soon as it happened Soonyoung felt his fangs start to poke out again.

He hoped that Minghao didn’t try to kiss him now, scared that he would be able to feel them. Soonyoung involuntarily shifted, trying to focus on getting his fangs under control but also on Minghao hovering above him. It was too much at once; he put his hands onto Minghao’s shoulders, pushing him up as he tried to shift his head away from Minghao’s eyes.

Minghao placed his hand against Soonyoung’s cheek and turned his head back towards him, “Are you okay?”

Soonyoung could only nod. Minghao leaned in again, this time to kiss Soonyoung on the cheek.

“I think that’s enough for tonight, we should try to sleep.” Minghao said, moving off of Soonyoung to lay down.

As much as he wanted to respond, he couldn’t until he calmed down. It was surprising that Minghao’s heart wasn’t beating quickly, he seemed relaxed despite the position they were in. It took some time, but Soonyoung finally calmed himself enough to speak.

“Sorry, I don’t know what happened.” Soonyoung said, sitting up to pull the covers out from under him.

Minghao shook his head and shrugged, “It’s okay to take things slow, I don’t want to rush you into things.”

Soonyoung was glad his response could be seen as simply not being ready, and not something else. The two got under the covers, and settled, Minghao curling up against Soonyoung. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he did remember having a bad dream. The movie had bothered him a lot more than he realized.

He was suddenly in his literature classroom, in the middle of a lecture, but he couldn’t focus on what the professor was saying. There was an overwhelming smell of blood, so many different types mingling together. Soonyoung looked over his shoulder, seeing the entire class with their throats ripped out, laying lifeless in their chairs. He looked back at the professor, but within the time he looked away, she was now slumped against the wall like the rest of the class. 

Soonyoung looked down at his hands, they were completely covered in blood, and it wouldn’t wipe off onto his clothes no matter how hard he rubbed them onto his shirt and pants. They were also drenched in blood. He looked towards where Minghao should be in panic, worried that he hurt him too. Minghao was still sitting as if nothing had happened, as if he was still listening to the lecture. He turned to Soonyoung, his face remaining flat like he was bored from what the professor was saying.

“I only like sexy vampires.” Minghao said, getting out of his seat, looking away from Soonyoung.

As Minghao walked by, Soonyoung got out of his seat, grabbing Minghao’s arms tightly. Still looking unphased, Minghao didn’t even try to resist despite how hard Soonyoung felt he was gripping him.

“I want to leave.” Minghao said, not even looking Soonyoung in the eyes.

“No, please, you can stay, I won’t hurt you.” Soonyoung could feel the pain as if it was actually happening.

“I’d rather be dead.”

The scene dissolved into blackness. Soonyoung was shaken awake.

“Soonyoung, wake up.” Minghao’s voice sounded thick with sleep.

Soonyoung’s eyes shot open, he sat up quickly, turning to make sure Minghao wasn’t hurt. The way it felt to squeeze his arms in the dream felt so real, he was worried it actually happened. But Minghao wasn’t acting hurt, and his arms weren’t red as if it had happened. Soonyoung settled back down, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the dream.

“Did you have a bad dream?” Minghao asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, the movie scared me more than I thought.” Soonyoung said, curling into Minghao now.

“It was just a dream.” Minghao wrapped his arms around Soonyoung, “I can protect you.”

He knew he shouldn’t take that phrase so seriously, but out of the two of them, only Soonyoung would put up much of a fight against another vampire. Still, he did feel safe in Minghao’s warm embrace. He could at least find a little comfort, even if it was going to be temporary.

Minghao fell back asleep quickly, but Soonyoung had trouble falling back to sleep. Eventually, he was able to drift off into a dreamless sleep. He woke up to the sunlight streaming through his window, but he didn’t want to open his eyes immediately. Minghao’s heart was beating loudly in his ear, but the sound was relaxing. It was obvious that Minghao was awake. His fingers moved lightly across Soonyoung’s neck, the touch might have tickled a normal person.

Minghao suddenly made a confused noise, touching one of the places he had bitten Soonyoung the night before. He pressed his fingers down, and now Soonyoung opened his eyes.

“What?” He asked, sitting up.

Minghao didn’t say anything at first, he just placed his hand on Soonyoung’s face to turn it, looking at the other side of his neck.

Soonyoung instinctively put a hand up to his neck, “Is something wrong?”

Minghao shook his head, “No, and that’s the problem.”

The vampire dropped his hand, giving the other a confused look.

“When you said you don’t bruise easily, I didn’t think you meant you didn’t bruise at all.” Minghao said, he almost looked a little disappointed.

Soonyoung didn’t know how to respond, not sure if he should apologize or give an explanation. It didn’t look like Minghao wanted either.

“There’s something you aren’t telling me.” Minghao said firmly.

“No there isn’t.” Soonyoung shook his head.

Minghao sighed heavily, he sounded annoyed now, “Stop it.”

“I don’t-”

“At first, I thought it was just some weird coincidences. Like the first day you came to our apartment, you hesitated to walk in. I passed that off as you just not wanting to intrude, and that’s fine. A lot of people are like that. But the not eating thing was a bit suspicious, I mean, yeah, there are people who have trouble eating in front of people, so I didn’t want to press that because it’s a sensitive issue. You’re super cold, you’re paler than you should be, and then there was that issue at the mall.” Minghao didn’t break eye contact as he spoke.

Soonyoung sat frozen, slowly realizing he had fucked up.

“It was just a paper cut, and a little blood, but everything about you changed. The way you stood, and even your face, it was really off. I didn’t say anything at first because I didn’t want to sound fucking crazy, because, you go out in the sun so everything I thought didn’t make sense. That’s why I invited you to see that movie. I thought that maybe you would do something to give yourself up, and you sort of did but it still wasn’t enough. And last night, I looked in your rearview mirror but I couldn’t see Wonwoo, and something about that made me think that I wouldn’t be able to see you in a mirror either.”

Minghao shifted on the bed, sitting on his knees now, “I overheard you talking to Jeonghan last night, talking about hunters. And you don’t bruise, and your skin didn’t feel like skin should feel.” Minghao turned to grab his keys, flipping open the small pocket knife attached to the keychain. He held the blade against the inner part of his forearm, and before Soonyoung could stop him, Minghao drug the blade against his skin. It wasn’t a deep cut, but enough that he started to bleed. 

Soonyoung shouted, his head clouded with the sweet smell of Minghao’s blood. There was no way he could stop his fangs from coming out, and he knew the familiar look of bloodlust that was on his face. Minghao’s expression didn’t change, he held his arm out steadily, almost expectantly. Soonyoung’s hand snapped out, taking Minghao’s wrist. He wanted to taste the blood so badly, it was all he could think to do, but he didn’t want to hurt Minghao. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to stop once he started.

Soonyoung let go of Minghao’s arm, grabbing his own head as he backed himself off the bed. Minghao followed him.

“Minghao, stop it.” Soonyoung had never heard himself sound so serious before.

“It’s okay,” Minghao said, “You can if you want.”

Without realizing it, Soonyoung found himself against the wall. He had backed himself against it. Minghao still came closer, testing his luck with every step. 

“So I was right.” Minghao said, “You are a vampire.”

Soonyoung nodded, staring at the blood that dripped down Minghao’s arm. Without speaking, he pulled his shirt off, quickly moving to wrap it around Minghao’s cut. The smell of blood was still in the air, but at least it was no longer as fresh. Soonyoung was finally able to start calming himself, “You should clean that up.”

Minghao placed his hand on the make-shift bandage, “I expect I’m going to be met by other vampires as soon as I leave this room. You really want me to go out there like this?”

Soonyoung didn’t respond immediately, he was still staring at the blood drying on Minghao’s arm, “They won’t hurt you.”

Minghao brought his injured arm up to Soonyoung’s face, “You could have done it you know.”

Soonyoung took Minghao’s hand from his face, “I don’t know if I would have been able to stop.”

“I think you could have.”

“You don’t understand.” Soonyoung said firmly.

“Then help me to.” Minghao pulled Soonyoung back towards the bed. He sat and waited for Soonyoung to join him.

“It’s your blood,” Soonyoung said as he sat down stiffly, “I don’t know why, but yours drives me fucking crazy.”

“Is that good or bad?” Minghao asked, adjusting the shirt still tied around his arm.

“It smells good, which makes it bad for you.”

“So, you have to stop yourself from killing me whenever we’re together?” Minghao shifted a little closer to Soonyoung, who nodded. Minghao let out a light laugh, “That’s kind of sexy.”

Soonyoung snapped his head up, “You think me wanting to kill you is sexy?”

Minghao shrugged, “I like the risk.”

“You aren’t scared?”

“Of course I’m scared, I’m not stupid. But for you? It seems worth it.” 

Soonyoung didn’t want to smile, but it happened. He was so worried that Minghao was going to hate him for what he really was, and maybe he should. Still, for now, he was relieved. “Can I ask something of you?”

Minghao nodded, “Anything.”

“Please don’t ever cut yourself like that again.”

“I can do that.” Minghao smiled, leaning in to kiss Soonyoung lightly.

There was a knock at the door, “Are you two okay in there?” Joshua asked through the closed door.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Soonyoung answered.

“Okay, we heard some shouting a little bit ago.”

Soonyoung got off the bed to go to the door, he opened it to see Joshua and Jeonghan standing in the hallway. They both looked worried; Jeonghan tried to look around Soonyoung at Minghao.

“Did we interrupt something?” Joshua looked down at Soonyoung’s bare chest.

Soonyoung, who had completely forgotten that he was shirtless, looked down and then immediately back up, “No.”

“What happened?” Jeonghan asked, he had an odd look on his face. Soonyoung assumed it was because the smell of Minghao’s blood was still in the air.

“Minghao cut himself.” Soonyoung said calmly.

Both Jeonghan and Joshua looked panicked, looking back at Minghao.

“Are you okay?” Joshua asked, looking at Minghao.

“I’m fine, I did it on purpose.” Mingao said it as if it was a common thing.

Neither Jeonghan nor Joshua knew how to respond to that.

“It’s okay, he knows.” Soonyoung told them.

Jeonghan’s face fell, “You told him?”

Soonyoung shook his head, “He figured it out on his own.”

Joshua leaned in, “All of us?”

“Yeah, even Wonwoo.” Soonyoung said with a shrug.

Jeonghan glanced back at Minghao before bursting into loud laughter, “He’s smarter than I expected.”

“I can hear you.” Minghao said loudly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that to be rude, I’m just surprised. I didn’t expect anyone to figure it out so soon, Joshua didn’t even realize it until I told him.” Jeonghan laughed.

Minghao got off the bed and walked over to the others, he untied the shirt from his arm. Soonyoung bit his lip as he saw the messy cut on Minghao’s arm. The blood had dried now, and the dark red color was stark against Minghao’s skin. Minghao pushed through the three to go to the bathroom, handing Soonyoung his shirt back as he walked out.

“For the record, we could smell the blood from our room.” Jeonghan said, “I would have come earlier, but Joshua needed to relax or he would have busted down your door and killed your boyfriend.”

Joshua looked at Jeonghan with an upset expression on his face, “I would not have killed him.”

Jeonghan laughed, “Oh sure, then you were practically yanking on our door to what? Give Minghao a hug?”

Joshua couldn’t respond, he clamped his jaw together and walked off. Jeonghan, before following, looked at Soonyoung and nodded, “Proud of you for not killing him either. Also, I texted Wonwoo last night, he and I are going to meet up to talk about things today.”

Soonyoung went back into his room, tossing the bloody shirt into his hamper and putting on a clean one. By the time he had finished, Minghao was coming back into the room. His arm now clean, almost as if nothing had happened. The only reminder being the thin line.

“I have questions.” Minghao said, relaxing back onto the bed.

This time, Soonyoung sat in his desk chair, “I can probably answer.”

“Who turned you? Was it Jeonghan or Vernon?” 

“Jeonghan.”

“What was that like? Was it intimate or just something that happened?” Minghao’s eyebrows arched as he said the word “intimate.”

“I guess it was sort of intimate, most vampires prefer to turn someone when they’re relaxed, Jeonghan said it makes for a smoother transition.” 

“Was it scary?”

“Terrifying.”

Minghao sat up slightly, “What was it like?”

“It was painful, I felt like my blood was on fire. And the world kept fading in and out, I thought if I drifted off, I wouldn’t come back. And I know part of me almost didn’t want to come back.”

“How does it work? Like, how does someone become a vampire?” 

Soonyoung gave him an odd look, “They have to bite you three times, the last time draining you completely.”

“Why three times? And does it have to be three times all at once or over a period of time?”

“I don’t know the answer to either of those, I’ve never turned anyone before.”

“Oh?” Minghao fully sat up now, “I assumed you turned Vernon.”

Soonyoung shook his head, “No, he was already a vampire when I met him.”

“Did he get turned by Jeonghan too?” 

“No,” Soonyoung shook his head sadly, “His story isn’t as nice as mine.”

“Can you tell me about it?” 

“The whole thing?”

Minghao nodded, “Yeah, but not just his. I want you to tell me about yours, obviously you weren’t born in the late 90s like I thought you were. Start at the beginning.”

So, he did.


	5. Until I Bleed Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW / CW : A lot of homophobia, and just general self-hatred.

**~February, 1976~**

There wasn’t much to be done after work, just go home and help out there. Soonyoung’s sister always wanted him to help out with the cleaning, giving him the dishes while she took care of any laundry or other smaller things. These last few weeks had been hectic, the family was preparing for Soonyoung’s sister’s wedding and her leaving the home. She wouldn’t be moving far, but soon she would have her own home, and hopefully family, to take care of.

Their father was working late most days, to not just support the household but help take care of wedding expenses; and Soonyoung’s mother spent her days at home, chatting with the other women in the neighborhood. For some reason, on this particular day, Soonyoung felt depressed. The wedding was days away, and the February sky was grey and the air was cold. Dinner was quiet, it was the end of the week and everyone was tired.

“What are you doing tonight?” His sister asked as he handed her a clean dish to put away.

“I think I’m going to find Junhong to see if he wants to see a movie or something.” Soonyoung said, hanging the dish cloth on it’s rack.

“Okay, don’t stay out too late, and don’t drink too much. Dongho and his family are coming tomorrow.” His sister said with a nod.

“Sure.” He wiped his damp hands on his pants, going to the door to grab his coat.

“Also, before you go, I need to talk to you about something. Privately.” She followed him, grabbing her coat and throwing it around her shoulders before walking outside.

Soonyoung gulped, worried about the expression on her face, but followed her outside nonetheless.

His sister hugged her jacket closer, shivering in the chill, night air, “What are you going to do about what we talked about the other day?”

Soonyoung blinked, “What?”

She sighed, glancing around to be sure no one was around to hear, “About you being... _ homosexual. _ ”

“Oh, that.” Soonyoung looked down at his feet.

“I told Dongho, because I tell him everything, and he wanted me to tell you that he still wants to be your brother, but he does find it hard to accept. You know I’m just worried about our parents and his parents.”

“I was just planning on lying.”

“For how long?” She asked, more serious than before.

“As long as I have to.”

“You and Junhong aren’t a couple, are you?” She asked suddenly.

Soonyoung snapped his head up, “No, of course not. He’s liked the same girl since we were in grade school.”

“But you like him?” 

Soonyoung blushed and nodded slightly.

His sister smiled, and gave him a quick hug, “I hope you can find someone who makes you happy.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, and now I’ll let you get going. Have a good night.” She shivered slightly before walking back into the warmth of the home.

Soonyoung took off, walking to Junhong’s home. The streets weren’t very well lit, which only made him feel colder. It wasn’t a long walk, and there weren’t many people out. Junhong happened to be sitting on his porch when Soonyoung came up, the two smiled in greeting.

“Good, I thought you would show up.” Junhong said, patting the cold concrete next to him.

Soonyoung sat, leaving plenty of space between the two of them so that it wasn’t awkward.

“Jeongyeon is coming tonight too, she said she’s bringing a friend along.” Junhong said, staring up at the night sky. 

Soonyoung watched his breath form as he spoke, and he nodded, “Who?”

“Some guy she met, I don’t know him. Apparently he’s like you.” Junhong looked over, smiling.

“Oh, so he’s-” Soonyoung didn’t finish the sentence, almost scared to say it out loud. Junhong nodded anyway.

Soonyoung had only told Junhong because he had to explain why he refused to date one of his female classmates, and Junhong had reacted better than expected. Soonyoung thought he would lose the friendship, but Junhong said it didn’t bother him; just as long as Soonyoung didn’t fall in love with him. Of course not, he had lied, they were friends and that was it.

Jeongyeon turned a corner with a young man next to her. He had sharp features, but a pleasant smile on his face. He didn’t seem like the kind of man Soonyoung would be interested in, but in this area, there were no other options. Junhong stood, hugging Jeongyeon and waited to be introduced to the other.

“This is Jeonghan, he lives next door to me.” She smiled, putting a hand onto Jeonghan’s shoulder.

“How old are you?” Junhong asked, eyeing the newcomer up and down.

Jeonghan chuckled, “I’m 24.”

“Huh, you look younger.” Junhong commented, sticking his hand out to introduce himself.

Jeonghan laughed at the comment, shaking hands with Junhong then turning to Soonyoung. He held his hand out, and Soonyoung took it as he told him his name. Jeonghan’s hand was ice cold, even in his equally cold hands it felt colder.

“Since he’s new to the area, I thought we could take him to our local haunt.” Jeongyeon said, referring to the small spot the three would often go to drink.

“Sounds good. Do you drink, Jeonghan?” Junhong asked, holding his arm out for Jeongyeon.

Jeonghan nodded, “I have expensive tastes.”

“I hope it’s not too expensive, otherwise you’ll run my pockets dry.” Junhong laughed as they started walking.

Jeonghan held back to walk next to Soonyoung, who felt almost nervous to walk next to him. He seemed so perfect, his voice was even clear and bright despite the world around them.

“So, Soonyoung, Jeongyeon told me your sister is getting married soon.” Jeonghan started, hoping to ease the tension.

Soonyoung nodded, “Yeah, soon.”

“How are you feeling about it? Siblings getting married is always a change, especially when they’re close.” Jeonghan said, his voice calming.

“I’m excited for her,” Soonyoung started to relax, “Her fiance is good for her, and he’s a nice guy. I think their marriage will be good.”

“And what about you? Do you have someone who’s good for you?”

Soonyoung briefly looked at the back of Junhong, who was laughing with Jeongyeon, unaware of his friend’s thoughts, “No, I don’t.”

“Really? No girlfriend or boyfriend?” Jeonghan asked with a laugh.

The way Jeonghan said “boyfriend” so casually made Soonyoung’s heart thud, he wanted to feel able to say that word comfortably and not be scared of someone hearing. He wished he could be fearless like Jeonghan was, but it was hard. “No.”

Jeonghan put his arm around Soonyoung’s shoulder, “That’s okay, I don’t either!”

The group came to their drinking spot, and spent the next few hours drinking and laughing loudly. They were getting to know Jeonghan well, and Soonyoung thought that maybe his one option wouldn’t be so bad. When the seller finally decided to close, most of the group was so drunk they could barely walk straight. Jeongyeon being the worst of the bunch. It was decided they would drop her off at her home first, and Jeonghan would walk the other two home as well since he was the least affected.

Once it was just the two of them, Soonyoung leaned against Jeonghan, not because he needed the help walking, but because he could. Most people would be sleeping at that hour, so Jeonghan tried to keep Soonyong as quiet as possible. When they reached Soonyoung’s home, Jeonghan stopped right before the gate’s entrance.

“Are you coming in?” Soonyoung asked, wobbling slightly.

“No, I should get home.”

Soonyoung smiled, “Okay, I want to see you again though.”

“I’m sure we will.” 

In his drunken state, he didn’t even think about what he was doing, he simply stepped forward and kissed Jeonghan on the lips. Then, as quickly as he did it, he turned and walked into his house. He didn’t remember collapsing on his bedroom floor.

His sister woke him up in the morning, and she sounded annoyed as she shook him awake. Soonyoung groaned loudly, covering his head with his arms. His head was pounding, and he was regretting drinking as much as he did. His sister brought him a bowl of rice and a cup of water, leaving it on the ground next to him. She told him to eat and get cleaned up, Dongho and his family would be there soon. 

He groaned, “Why are they coming so early?”

“It’s not early anymore, it’s past noon!”

Soonyoung slowly sat up, his head throbbing with every move. He picked up the water first, taking slow gulps. His stomach felt empty but also it felt like he would vomit if he even ate anything. Still, he slowly started to eat the rice. At some point, his sister had left the room and was now rushing around with their mother to make sure everything was in order. They were acting like Dongho’s family had never seen their home before.

His head was still pounding, but it was feeling better after getting something in him. He took the cup and bowl out to their kitchen to fill up his glass again and search for something else to eat. The food from lunch had already been finished, but there was still some rice sitting in the pot. As he ate his second helping, he sat at the table, staring off into nothing.

His dad came into the house a few minutes later, holding a few bags of food for their dinner. The two men nodded at each other, his dad setting the bags onto the table and sitting in a chair opposite his son.

“You shouldn’t have drank so much last night.” His dad said, shaking his head slightly.

“We got distracted, Jeongyeon introduced us to someone new.” Soonyoung said, his mouth full.

“Another girl?” His father arched his brow.

Soonyoung shook his head, making his father sigh.

“She should bring one of her girl friends with her sometime, you need to meet a pretty girl and settle down.”

“I’ll ask her if she knows of anyone.” Soonyoung said. Of course, he had no plans to do that. Life would be so much easier if he wasn’t fucking  _ queer _ , he thought with a hint of disgust in himself. If his sister knew he thought that about himself, she would be angry with him. From the moment he told her, she wanted him to know there was nothing wrong with being a homosexual. It was natural, despite what others might say.

His dad left the table, leaving his son to finish getting ready to entertain their guests on his own. By the time the family came, Soonyoung’s hangover was mostly gone. It helped that no one was paying him much attention during the visit, everyone was focused on getting the wedding plans finalized.

When it got closer to dinner, the women excused themselves to start preparing the food while the men sat around and continued their conversation.

“Now, Soonyoung, I haven’t heard much out of you. Are you working?” Dongho’s father asked.

“Yes sir, I work at the steel plant.”

“Good, we need men to do that. I assume, though, you don’t meet many women at the plant?” The man asked, laughing.

“No sir, not many women working there.” Soonyoung said simply.

“Well, that’s fine. I bet the women who do work there wouldn’t make good wives.” He laughed, and so did Soonyoung’s father. Both Dongho and Soonyoung laughed as well, but it sounded forced.

Soonyoung’s father spoke up now, “I expect he’ll meet a good woman soon, he had a good friend who’s a girl. She can introduce him to some good young ladies and then we’ll have to start planning another wedding.”

Soonyoung let out a strained laugh, and he gripped his pant legs tightly. He hated this conversation, and he wanted out of it. Thankfully, Dongho noticed.

He stood, “Soonyoung, let’s go out for some air and leave these old men to talk.”

Soonyoung stood immediately, following Dongho outside. The two sat on the front porch and said nothing. It was exactly what Soonyoung needed in that moment.They stayed there until they were called in for dinner, and Soonyoung didn’t say much the rest of that night.

Or for the rest of that week.

The day of his sister’s wedding came quickly, and it was a good day. Soonyoung tried to be as happy as he could, but he was surrounded by happy couples all day and it put him in a much worse mood than before. After the festivities were over, and the families all went to their homes, Soonyoung had had enough.

His mom would not stop tittering about how she couldn’t wait for Soonyoung’s wedding, and his dad kept talking about how his son needed to find a nice girl. He waited until they got home to finally snap.

His mom was smiling to herself, sipping a cup of tea at the kitchen table, “I wonder if your wedding will be as big as her’s, it all depends on the bride but-”

“I’m not going to ever have a wedding!” Soonyoung blurted loudly.

Both his parents looked at him in shock. His dad folded his hands in front of him, “And why not?”

“I won’t get married, I won’t ever meet a ‘good woman'. I’d rather die than marry a woman I don’t want to be with.” Soonyoung said, he could feel the words bubbling inside him.

His dad scoffed, “No one said you had to have a house wife, you can marry whatever woman you want, even one of those working at the steel plant.”

“That’s not the point! I don’t want to marry a woman!” Soonyoung was on his feet, the kitchen chair wobbling as he suddenly jolted up.

A look of concern crossed his mom’s face, while one of anger came to his dad’s.

“What are you saying?” His father’s voice dropped, he sounded angrier than Soonyoung had ever heard him.

“I’m saying I like men, I’m a homosexual.” As the words left Soonyoung’s lips, a weight felt like it lifted off his shoulders.

“No son of mine is going to be queer!” His father stood now, his hands balled into fists.

“Then I guess I’m no longer your son.” Soonyoung turned to leave the house.

“If you leave now, you can never come back.” His father snapped.

Soonyoung paused at the door, knowing he was about to leave all of his things behind. He wasn’t thinking about his family when he walked out of the door, only himself and how he felt. The next logical step in his burning of bridges was to see Junhong. His childhood friend was home, and he stepped outside to hear what Soonyoung had to say.

“I don’t care what you say or do, but there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time.” Soonyoung said, running on complete adrenaline now.

Junhong nodded, “Okay, what is it?”

“I love you, and I’ve loved you for a long time. I lied when I said we were just friends, I always wanted to be more.”

Junhong’s face changed, it went from concern, to confusion, to disgust, and finally to anger. “What the fuck?” Junhong shouted, “I was fine with this whole thing, but then you had to like me? You’re fucking disgusting.”

Soonyoung wasn’t surprised at the response, he just wished it had been different. He took a step towards his friend, but Junhong backed up as well.

“Stay the fuck away from me.” Junhong shook his head.

He didn’t know why, but Soonyoung took another step forward. Junhong reacted in the only way he knew how, he shoved Soonyoung hard enough that he fell. Now, Junhong’s mother had come out of the house, she gasped worriedly when she saw Soonyoung laying on the ground, but Junhong told her to leave him.

Soonyoung stood, the palms of his hands stinging from scraping the gravel. He didn’t look at his hands until he was away from Junhong’s house, he wiped the dirt and blood onto his shirt. Jeongyeon’s house wasn’t far, but he really wanted to go to Jeonghan’s. All he needed was someone to be on his side now. Sometime during the last few days, when Junhong and Soonyoung went to pick up Jeongyeon, she had pointed out which house the guy had lived in.

He wasn’t completely sure, but he picked the house that seemed right. Jeonghan came to the gate, looking concerned.

“Soonyoung? What are you doing here? I thought your sister’s wedding was today-are you bleeding?” Jeonghan’s eyes fell onto the smeared blood on Soonyoung’s shirt.

“I told my parents and Junhong, now I have nowhere else to go.”

With those words alone, Jeonghan brought Soonyoung into his house. It was minimally decorated as if it was only temporary. He sat Soonyoung on the couch, walking into his kitchen to heat up a kettle of water. Soonyoung hadn’t realized before, but he was shivering. As the water was heating, Jeonghan came back into the room with a damp rag. He took Soonyoung’s hands and began to wipe them. The blood had dried now, but Jeonghan was careful to not reopen the shallow scratches.

“You can stay with me as long as you need.” Jeonghan said softly as he cleaned.

“Thank you.” Soonyoung watched Jeonghan work, “I don’t think I should stay here long though, I think if any of them see me, I’ll be in trouble.”

Jeonghan lifted his head slightly, “We can move.”

“What?”

Jeonghan looked up now, putting the cloth onto his coffee table, “If you want, we can move. I have plenty of money, it’s no problem for me to simply pack up and move.”

“You would do that for me? Why?” Soonyoung had a hard time believing someone who was almost a stranger would do something as kind as moving for him.

“Of course, it’s better to leave a place that brings you misery and go somewhere that gives you a fresh start.”

The kettle started to whistle, and Jeonghan went to the kitchen. He poured two cups of tea, bringing them back and handing one to Soonyoung.

“I don’t have any food to offer you, I’m sorry. I’ll go get some in the morning.” Jeonghan said.

“What do you mean you don’t have any food? Like, nothing at all?” The sentence had caught Soonyoung off guard, there was something odd about the way he said it.

“Nothing, I usually only buy enough for myself, so it’s all gone. Are you hungry? I could go get something now.” Jeonghan almost stood.

Soonyoung stopped him, “No, I’m fine, please don’t leave me alone right now.”

Jeonghan nodded, settling back onto his couch.

**~One year later, March, 1977~**

Soonyoung had finally settled into life in the Busan area, it was much different than what he had grown up in, but Jeonghan helped him adjust. It was odd how comfortable Jeonghan was in the area, as if he had lived there for many years before despite his young age. 

The neighborhood they moved into was small, but no one questioned when they moved in. Soonyoung got a job at the local factory, trying to not be a free-loader living off Jeonghan’s money, and he bought his own food and clothes. Another odd thing about Jeonghan that Soonyoung noticed, was that the older never ate. He would only ever make tea for himself, and drink it while Soonyoung ate. And some nights, Jeonghan would disappear for a few hours with no explanation. On those nights, Jeonghan would crawl into Soonyoung’s bed with him to sleep next to each other. Those nights were Soonyoung’s favorites. 

On this day, Soonyoung had decided to work later than usual since Jeonghan would be going out on his weekly excursion. The air was getting warmer, so he took the long way home, going on foot as he was apt to do. It was dark before he reached his neighborhood, Jeonghan would probably have already left. There were stretches of his walk that were poorly lit, and his anxiety rose during those parts. 

A group of men were sitting together on a bench under one of the streetlights, Soonyoung didn’t need a keen sense of smell to smell the cheap booze they were drinking. He smiled politely as he passed the group, hoping to get by with no issues.

Except, one man pointed at him with a bottle in hand, “You’re one of the ones on my block.” His words were slurred as he spoke, and his hand wavered as he pointed.

Soonyoung nodded, “I am.”

“You live with that other guy.”

“I do,” He was nervous, not liking where the conversation was going.

“Are you two related?” Another one asked.

“No, we’re just old friends.” Soonyoung lied.

“Seems a bit odd for two men to be living together in such a small house,” The first man said, standing now, “You two aren’t a couple of  _ faggots  _ are you?” He spat the word, and Soonyoung felt hot under his collar. 

Now, his hands were shaking, “N-no, sir, of course not.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” The first man walked closer to Soonyoung, who suddenly couldn’t move, “I don’t want your kind here.”

The man suddenly lurched his arm back and his fist connected with Soonyoung’s jaw. Soonyoung stumbled back, despite being drunk, the man still had quite the arm. The man’s friends started to laugh. Soonyoung tried to fight back, reaching out to shove the man back. Instead, the man grabbed one of Soonyoung’s arms, yanking him closer and kicking him in the gut. He spat blood, not realizing it was even in his mouth until he saw it fly from his lips.

The man stepped back, and roared in disgust, “You got your blood on me, I don’t want to catch anything from you.”

Soonyoung groaned, clutching his stomach and stumbling towards the man again, trying desperately not to fall. Still, the man took his bottle and smashed it against Soonyoung’s head. He fell to his knees, the pain spreading throughout his entire body. Everyone laughed, no one even offered to help. But, then again, why would they? The man put a hand on Soonyoung’s shoulder, leaning in and holding the jagged bottle in his other hand. Soonyoung watched as the man brought it towards him, the pain from it causing him to let out a soundless scream. He fell to his side, clutching his stomach.

The man laughed, “I think he’s had enough, let’s get out of here.” But before he left, he spat on Soonyoung. The group walked off, laughing loudly as they left.

Soonyoung lay on the ground, not sure what was going to happen now. He could feel blood running down his scalp and his stomach, and he knew he needed help but he couldn’t move. The pain in his abdomen was too great. So, he lay there, waiting for whatever came next, trying hard not to close his eyes and drift off.

At some point, he heard footsteps in the distance. They were slow at first, but then suddenly picked up speed and were headed towards him. He was scared again, worried it was an animal or someone coming to hurt him again. But a gentle hand laid on his shoulder.

“Soonyoung? Oh my God, Soonyoung?” The voice sounded distant and familiar, “Don’t try to move, I have to get you home.”

He felt himself get lifted off the ground into a cold pair of arms. Before he knew it, he was being laid onto his bed. There was some distant rummaging sounds, but he still didn’t know where he was. The hospital? It didn’t smell like one. It smelled like home and blood. His savior came back into the room, and he felt his shirt being lifted from his stomach, the person groaned.

“Soonyoung, I-I want to save you, but the only way I can is unpleasant. You’re bleeding too much, so there’s no other way.” The person said.

He looked towards the voice, his eyes still unfocused but an image of a person came into view. They were shaped like Jeonghan, “You can let me die.”

Jeonghan leaned over Soonyoung, his face clearer now, “I’m not letting that happen, please, let me save you.”

“How?” His voice came out in a croak, it took everything to speak.

“I’ll have to bite you.” Jeonghan said.

Soonyoung didn’t understand, thinking he didn’t hear him correctly.

“I’ll explain later, but let me do this for you.” 

“No,” Soonyoung felt his heart thud, something didn’t feel right. His mind was still muddled but this was clear.

Jeonghan was suddenly hovering over him on the bed, “Please, I don’t want to lose you.”

Soonyoung wanted to stop him, but Jeonghan leaned in and kissed him. This was the second time they had ever kissed, and it was the second kiss Soonyoung had ever had. Suddenly, the pain was bearable. They weren’t in love, but there was love behind the kiss. Soonyoung wanted to live again, and he didn’t know why.

“Okay,” Soonyoung trusted Jeonghan enough to know what to do.

Jeonghan placed a light hand on Soonyoung’s cheek, wiping away a tear he hadn’t felt drop. He leaned closer, kissing a spot on Soonyoung’s neck before slowly biting down. The first bite sent another wave of pain through his body. Jeonghan released, licking away some blood that trickled out before shifting more towards Soonyoung’s collarbone. He bit him again, and the second bite lit Soonyoung’s blood on fire. Before he only felt pain where he had been hit, but now it was everywhere. Still, Jeonghan was being as gentle as he could.

He sat up slightly, looking Soonyoung in the eyes. His face had changed, his eyes looked red and there were fangs poking out from behind his lips as Jeonghan spoke, “I’ll see you in a bit.” He leaned back down, placing his lips on the other side of Soonyoung’s neck. He took Soonyoung’s hands in his own, interlocking their fingers as he bit down. 

The world started to fade in and out, Jeonghan didn’t lift his head, but Soonyoung wanted his face to be the last thing he saw before he died. There was no way he could survive this, and he almost didn’t want to anymore; worried that if he did he would still be in pain. He felt himself go limp and everything went dark.

.

.

.

The light hurt. He could feel it stinging his skin like a fever. That was how he knew he had come back. There was also the painful thirst, his throat stung as if he threw up. The smell of old blood in the room, as much as he would have been disgusted by it in the past, made his thirst worse. He sat up quickly, looking around the room. Jeonghan was laying next to him, his eyes shut.

Soonyoung shook the other, “Jeonghan?” His throat was thick as he spoke.

Jeonghan’s eyes shot open, he sat up and immediately pulled Soonyoung into a tight hug, “You survived.”

“What did you do to me?” Soonyoung realized Jeonghan didn’t feel as cold as he usually did.

“I had to turn you.” Jeonghan said, pulling away.

“Turn me?”

“Did you ever wonder why I was so cold? Or why I never ate?”

Soonyoung nodded.

“It’s because I’m a vampire.” Jeonghan said it casually, as if he didn’t just drop the news that he was something supposedly from fiction.

“You’re joking.”

Jeonghan shook his head, “I’m deadly serious.”

“Prove it.”

“What more proof do you need? You’re alive, aren’t you?”

Soonyoung didn’t respond immediately, understanding the logic but still curious, “You could have taken me to a hospital.”

“You wouldn’t have made it all the way there. I’m fast, but it’s not that fast when holding someone who’s bleeding out in my arms.”

Soonyoung lightly touched his stomach, the blood that had gotten on his shirt had now completely dried. He lifted the shirt, expecting to see jagged cuts where the bottle had gone in but only seeing his unblemished skin. Now, he was starting to believe. “So, what? I’m a vampire now too? I’m going to have to live in this shitty world forever?”

Jeonghan laughed loudly, “It’s not always going to be like this. I’ve been around for almost a century and things have gotten much better, so I expect it will continue like that.”

Soonyoung sat silently, he had many more questions but was running out of energy to talk.

“You should sleep some more, that’s something you still need to do.” Jeonghan got off the bed, yanking the covers out from under Soonyoung only to throw them back over him.

“There’s a lot I wish you would have told me before you changed me.” Soonyoung grumbled with a slight pout on his face.

“I can guarantee you would have refused if I told you more.” Jeonghan leaned over and gave Soonyoung a kiss on his forehead.

Over the next couple nights, Jeonghan and Soonyoung went hunting. His first time went horribly. First of all, the blood type was B, but second, he didn’t bite where he was supposed to and the person’s blood gushed much faster than he was ready for. He almost choked. But Jeonghan laughed and said it’ll take practice to get it right, at least that was how it was for him.

Soonyoung would also have to learn on his own when to stop drinking, because Jeonghan told him that the person he hunted with wouldn’t always be able to tell. When he asked why he couldn’t just drain the person completely, Jeonghan said that draining someone on the first or second bite would just make him ravenous. He didn’t know how much worse his thirst could get but he didn’t want to risk it.

After a week, Soonyoung finally felt his thirst was getting under control. He could go out in the sun with no problem, and even walk by humans without his mouth watering. One day, while on an afternoon walk with Jeonghan, Soonyoung smelled something, or someone, awfully familiar. He kept walking, watching to see what the source of the smell was. His eyes landed on a small number of men sitting outside a convenience store.

Jeonghan didn’t notice Soonyoung stiffen, but when he walked a few steps without the other, he took notice that something was wrong. Soonyoung stared at the men, and one made eye contact with him. His eyes widened as he smacked his friend on the arm. Soonyoung’s almost-murderer looked up and it looked as if his soul left his body when he saw his victim still alive. 

“Who are they?” Jeonghan lightly nudged Soonyoung.

“The one in the middle tried to kill me.” Soonyoung said back, his eyes never leaving the man.

Jeonghan looked over, his face hardened, “Let’s go home.”

Soonyoung complied easily, but he knew that wasn’t going to be the last time he would see these men. And, that night, he snuck out of their home to find them again. He wasn’t the type to seek revenge, but when it came to literal life and death, his morals were different. The trick was finding them again. He knew what their blood smelled like, it was almost different than other people’s, almost alcoholic.

He searched in the usual places someone would find the local drunks, but they weren’t in any of them. Soonyoung was almost worried he had scared them off too soon. But he also knew people who abused alcohol were willing to do anything to get their next drink. He turned a corner to another stretch of dark street, smelling old beer that had been spilled on the sidewalk.

A very familiar scene began to take shape; Soonyoung was walking closer to a group of men sitting around under a streetlamp. He didn’t feel scared this time, in fact he could tell they were scared. One of the men stood up and pointed to him.

“How are you here?” The man shouted.

“How do you know I’m actually here?” Soonyoung shouted back, his tone teasing, “Didn’t your friend kill me?”

All the men looked at one man, he looked particularly worried. His pathetic heart was beating fast. Soonyoung laughed at the sound of his scared heart, a joke that only he was in on.

“Look, we’ll turn ourselves in, if that’s what you want.” The man who attacked him sounded small, no longer brave enough to kill someone.

“You and I both know that’s not what I want from you.” Soonyoung leaned over slightly, as if preparing for a race.

A beer bottle slipped out of someone’s hand and smashed to the ground; in that instant, most of the men fell to the ground, limp, lifeless, and with their heads almost completely removed from their bodies. Soonyoung wasn’t thinking of how wasteful he was, only ridding the world of their pitiful selves. The original hunter had now become the prey, and Soonyoung let the man take a running, or stumbling, start. He didn’t get far before Soonyoung came up behind him, gripping his head tightly in one hand and the other gripping his shoulder.

Soonyoung bit down as the man screamed for help that wouldn’t come. His blood was rancid, a combination of an AB blood type, alcohol, and fear. It was disgusting, but Soonyoung kept drinking. He got some weird sort of pleasure from taking the life from a man who almost took his. Somehow, as the blood tasted thinner in his mouth, he finally let go of the man. He ungracefully fell to the ground with a low thud. The last thing the man would have seen was Soonyoung’s bloody face smiling down at him.

That was when Soonyoung realized what he had just done. This wasn’t like him, he wouldn’t have ever wanted to kill someone, let alone a large group, like this. He ran back home, not sure if the moisture dripping down his face was tears or blood. He burst through the front door, Jeonghan was standing in the living room, his back was to the door but he looked nervous.

He spun around as soon as Soonyoung was through the door, “What did you do?”

“I killed them.” Soonyoung realized now that he was crying, his voice thick in his throat.

Jeonghan didn’t have to ask who, he simply knew. He came to Soonyoung, and led him to the bathroom. He took the blood soaked clothes and threw them into a pile on the floor as he started the shower. Jeonghan cleaned the other up because Soonyoung had stopped functioning from the shock of what he had done.

“We’re going to go about life as usual in case they decide to investigate, you cannot act suspicious. They can’t prove you did it, but once they close the case we are leaving.” Jeonghan said softly.

“Where will we go?” Soonyoung said, his voice barely audible.

“How’s your English?” Jeonghan asked, shutting off the water and grabbing a towel.

**~January, 1984 - Los Angeles, California, United States~**

The investigation of the men’s deaths had lasted longer than Jeonghan anticipated, and it still had not even been closed by the time he began making plans to leave. No one thought it was suspicious the two were moving after 6 years, and they probably could have moved sooner but Soonyoung was struggling to learn English in that time. He wasn’t perfect by the time of their move, but it was enough to get by.

Jeonghan bought a small house just outside of Los Angeles itself, and Soonyoung wondered how he had enough money to simply buy a house wherever he went. Still, he decided not to question it and settled into their new home, away from the misery that happened in Busan not too long ago.

The area they lived in gave them more ground to hunt, it was an ideal place for them. Of course there were some things they had to watch out for, but they were avoidable most of the time. Jeonghan quickly embraced the gay culture of the area, while Soonyoung tended to stay at home, too nervous to go out and talk to men. 

Years passed like this, and Soonyoung was getting bored of the same old thing, “I want to travel.”

“Ok,” Jeonghan had said simply, “Are you willing to go alone?”

The question had shocked Soonyoung, he was hoping they could go together, but he understood why Jeonghan wanted to stay. No one questioned the fact that he didn’t age. “Fine, but I want to keep in touch.”

Jeonghan had written the home number and address on a slip of paper, slid it across the never-used dining room table, and wished Soonyoung luck. He was almost bothered that Jeonghan was so quick to let him go, but they both knew they would see each other again someday. That’s how it always worked when two people’s souls were connected in some way.

Soonyoung left the Los Angeles home with a small backpack, his passport, and the credit card Jeonghan had left for him on the table. In every city Soonyoung went to, he would give Jeonghan a call. Sometimes he would answer, other times Soonyoung had to leave a message. The positive part of the whole experience was that he never really felt lonely, even if he didn’t really talk to other people on his travels. He spent more time in larger cities where he was always surrounded by people, often months at a time, either at hotels or in the home of other vampires who had run into him and offered him some company.

Eventually, he found himself in New York city. The years had certainly changed. He had blinked and it somehow became 2006, he hardly remembered that days would pass. The motels he stayed at never thought it was strange that he was out all night and slept all day, even humans did that in New York.

The plan was only to stay in the city for half of the year, taking his time to get to know the city he had dreamed of going to as a kid. Except, that plan was interrupted as he walked the streets of the garment district on a particularly cold September night. He often passed homeless people huddled against the sides of buildings, and he would typically pay them no mind; but as he passed one shivering bundle, he felt something was off. 

They didn’t smell human, they smelled similar to most other vampires he had met, but there was still something off. Deciding to test his luck, he approached the person. He placed his hand on what he assumed was their knee, jumping back slightly as the person snapped their head up. The stranger’s irises were completely black, what used to be the whites of his eyes were almost completely bloodshot; and his face was sunken as if he hadn’t eaten in years. Soonyoung stood as the person shouted, baring his fangs as a warning.

Soonyoung immediately felt sorry for this person, not completely sure what he was going through but wanted to help him however he could. He leaned back in, offering a hand, but the stranger flinched away from it, as if expecting to be hit.

“ _ I’m not going to hurt you _ .” Soonyoung said, his English had improved from all his years of practice.

The stranger didn’t look to immediately believe him, clearly still ready to jump if needed.

“ _ We’re the same, let me help you. _ ” Soonyoung said again, squatting next to the other.

“ _ How?”  _

“ _ Are you hungry?”  _

The stranger nodded furiously.

Soonyoung stood, holding his hand out. The stranger reluctantly took it, he was shaking and felt cold, something Soonyoung hadn’t expected another vampire to feel. Still, this person was sick, and just needed to eat. “ _ We’ll go outside of the city.” _

The stranger nodded, and the two went to a small town an hour outside of the city. There were a few people out and about, and Soonyoung could tell the stranger was itching to feed. Soonyoung put his hand on the other’s arm, signaling him to wait. They sat on a bench, the stranger bouncing his leg as they waited for someone to come along. A lone man ran by, and the vampires decided this would be their target. 

Soonyoung caught the man first, and the stranger came up quickly behind, luring the victim into a trance before biting down. Soonyoung could feel life leaving the person as he held the man up for the other, and he soon realized it was time to stop.

“ _ You need to stop drinking, you shouldn’t drain him.” _

When the stranger didn’t immediately listen, it took all of Soonyoung’s strength to force him off. The stranger glared as the man died.

“ _ I could have finished him.” _

Soonyoung shook his head, “ _ No, it’s bad to do that. You are already looking better.” _

The stranger had no choice but to agree that he was feeling a bit better, some color was coming back now, and so the two took off again. They spent the whole night traveling around to small towns and even college towns, trying to find someone healthy for the stranger to feed on. When Soonyoung took him back to his hotel room at the break of dawn, he was looking more alive. However, he still wasn’t ready to go out in the sun nor was he full, but at least he wasn’t shaking and shivering. It was now a perfect time to start getting to know this stranger Soonyoung had picked up.

“ _ What’s your name? _ ” Soonyoung asked, letting the person sit before he asked.

“ _ Vernon, and you?” _

“ _ Soonyoung.” _

Vernon gave him a curious look, “ _ Where are you from?” _

_ “South Korea.” _

_ “ _ So you speak Korean, then?” Vernon said, taking Soonyoung off guard.

“Yeah, how do you know it?” Soonyoung asked.

“My dad was Korean, so we spoke both languages at home.”

Soonyoung paused, “Was?”

Vernon nodded, “Yeah, both my parents were killed by the vampire that turned me. My sister is still alive, but I have no idea where she is. I ran away once I woke up, so I think she thinks I killed them.”

“I’m sorry.” Soonyoung said, but Vernon shook his head to pass the comment off.

“It didn’t happen too long ago, but I’ve sort of forgotten to miss them. All I knew was fear and that damn thirst.” Vernon sighed heavily.

“Did the person who turned you not help you at all?” 

Vernon shook his head again, “Of course not, she turned me and then ran off. I still don’t even know why she chose me. Did you know the person who turned you?”

“Yeah, he’s my friend. I almost died so he had to change me, but I haven’t seen him since the 80’s, and we haven’t really talked to each other since the early 2000s.”

Vernon laughed slightly, his posture relaxing slightly, “Maybe that’s why you’re actually nice.”

“Are the vampires here not nice?”

“No way, it’s fucking scary out there. I had literally just ran away from a group of them when you found me. This wasn’t the first night, and I wanted to give up. So, thanks. I owe you.”

Soonyoung got an idea, feeling sorry for Vernon, “Why don’t you travel around with me?”

“We just met.” Vernon sounded surprised.

“Well, you still need some help recovering, and I could use the company. Also, if we end up hating each other, we can just split off with no hard feelings.” Soonyoung smiled.

Vernon gave a small smile in return, “Okay, sure.”

Unfortunately, they didn’t do much traveling after that. Soonyoung helped Vernon get back on his feet, and after that they decided to stay in New York. Traveling sounded like a good idea, but they had gotten used to the city, and Vernon wanted to find the woman who turned him. That would never happen, and he never even got close to figuring that mystery out. While he searched, Soonyoung realized how much he missed Jeonghan. So he gave his old friend a call.

“ _ Hello _ ?” An unfamiliar voice picked up the phone.

“ _ Oh, sorry, I’m trying to reach someone named Yoon Jeonghan. Does he still live there?”  _ Soonyoung bit his lip, suddenly worried Jeonghan had moved.

There was some shuffling on the other end of the call and muffled voices, “Soonyoung?” Jeonghan’s voice came through clearly.

Soonyoung smiled in relief, “Oh good, you still live there. Who was that who answered?”

“His name is Joshua, you need to meet him. He’s wonderful.” Jeonghan’s smile could be heard through the phone.

“Yeah, I should. I also made a friend in New York, maybe we should go back to LA.”

“I’m really glad you called because Joshua and I were thinking of going back to Korea. He’s never been there, and I miss home. You and your friend should come here soon so we can all go together.”

Soonyoung glanced at the motel door, half expecting Vernon to come through at that moment, “I’ll ask him when he gets back, and let you know what he decides. He’s really nervous around other vampires though, so I’m not sure how it’ll go.”

Jeonghan made a confused noise, “Oh, you didn’t turn him?”

“No, you turned Joshua?”

“Yeah, a few years ago.”

“Oh.”

Jeonghan laughed lightly, “Are you jealous of him? You haven’t even met him yet.”

“No, of course not! But, what does that mean? Are you two just like how we were or are you-”

“Actually a couple? Yeah. Listen, we’ll have to talk more about this later, Joshua and I are going somewhere. Let me know what your friend thinks, and give me a call back soon!” 

The two exchanged quick goodbyes, and then Soonyoung sat and waited for Vernon to return. It was late before he showed up, and by the look on his face, he had made no new progress in finding the person he was looking for.

“I called Jeonghan today.” Soonyoung said as Vernon laid on his bed.

“Oh? What did you two talk about?”

“He said he met someone and he wants us to meet. But he also said they want to move to Korea, and he invited us to come with.” Soonyoung crossed and uncrossed his arms as he spoke.

Vernon looked over then shrugged, “Sure.”

“Sure?”

Vernon nodded then looked back to the ceiling, “I’m never going to find her, and I need a change of pace.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? I mean, you’re not used to being around other vampires.”

“You trust Jeonghan, right? Then I’ll be okay.” 

After that, the two got ready to leave New York and venture forth. Meeting Joshua was interesting, he was still getting used to being a vampire, which often made Vernon skittish. The two pairs sat separately on the flight to Korea, Vernon even pleading secretly with Soonyoung to have them sit as far away as possible from the other two. It was like introducing two cats, they had to be separate and learn to get comfortable with each other from afar first.

But both Soonyoung and Jeonghan had infinite patience, and Joshua wasn’t offended that Vernon didn’t immediately want to be around him. It was obvious that Vernon was trying hard to be comfortable living in the same apartment with the other, and the first day the two sat next to each other was almost a cause for celebration. By the time Soonyoung was enrolled in college for a new challenge, Vernon and Joshua were acting like they had been friends the whole time. It was a relief for Soonyoung to not have to worry about Vernon and Joshua while he started classes. 

And that’s where his life story leads to this moment; sitting on a chair across from the human he might have fallen in love with, telling him every gruesome and sad detail that brought him here.


	6. Listen To Your Heart

**~Modern day, Soonyoung’s room~**

Minghao didn’t interrupt the entire time Soonyoung told his story, aside from a few passing comments here and there that didn’t add or subtract from the story as a whole. He listened intently, trying to get some more understanding of the person he cared deeply about after only knowing for a short amount of time. The whole story should have been unbelievable, in fact Soonyoung expected Minghao to start laughing and say that he could stop the joke now. Except, he didn’t. Once Soonyoung finished talking, Minghao blinked a few times before sucking in a deep breath.

Minghao asked one simple, yet complex question, “Do you think what you’re living through right now was worth it?”

“I mean, I met you, so yes.”

“Other than because of me.”

He thought for a moment, “A lot has changed since the 70s, but some things have stayed the same. I don’t feel as scared telling someone I’m gay nowadays, but there’s still the fear. The technology advancements are good though.” Soonyoung said.

Minghao nodded, “I have another question,” Soonyoung nodded so Minghao continued, “Did you ever want to see your sister and her husband again? They would still be alive.”

Soonyoung froze. In truth, he never thought about it, and he doubted his sister would want to see him again. He assumed that his family thought he died, possibly grieved, then moved on with their lives. As well, he hadn’t even thought of them after he left; even his sister, who was his biggest support system when he was with the family. Jeonghan had become his family, and then Vernon and Joshua were added. His blood family meant very little to him now. “I never thought about seeing them.”

“You should, I think it would be good for them. And you. I think she really cared about you.”

Soonyoung didn’t respond again.

“Don’t think I’m forcing you to do it, it’s just a suggestion.” Minghao added, filling the silence.

“I don’t think showing up looking exactly like I was when I left is a good idea. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us as it is.”

“Except, now I know.” Minghao looked at him with a smile.

Soonyoung practically melted, “If we break up, I’ll have to kill you though.”

Minghao’s smile only widened, “It’s worth the risk.”

Soonyoung let out a laugh, “It’s really not.”

“Then we can’t break up.” Minghao nodded, then he shifted slightly, “Anyway, I still have more questions. How do Wonwoo and Seungkwan come into this mix? You didn’t mention them at all in your story.”

“You have to ask Jeonghan for that one, he knew them centuries ago.” 

Minghao hummed in response, “Do you think Mingyu knows about Wonwoo?”

“No, probably not. Wonwoo doesn’t want to tell him.”

“Why do you keep it a secret?” 

Soonyoung shrugged, “Jeonghan always said it was less dangerous that way, the less people that know, the better. There are people who want us dead. You could want to kill me for all I know and I just told you all this.”

Minghao let out an airy laugh as he got off the bed, he came over to Soonyoung and sat sideways on his lap. He kissed Soonyoung’s cheek, “I don’t want to kill you, no matter how badly you want to kill me sometimes.”

Soonyoung smiled, burying his head into Minghao’s neck, and being overwhelmed with the way he smelled. For once, though, he could tolerate it. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to, but he was appreciating every second.

“Whatever happened with that group of guys you killed?” Minghao asked casually.

Soonyoung tried his best to not think about them as much as possible, but he had looked it up just once to satisfy his curiosity, “The police closed the case even though the families protested. They wanted answers, and some tried to tell them to the police and media but they got labelled as crazy. So, now the case is closed and there are no plans to reopen it.”

“What kinds of things did the families say?”

“Some nonsense about vampires being real,” Soonyoung looked up and Minghao’s face, “I mean, how wild is that?”

Minghao laughed, “Completely ridiculous.”

**~~Sunday~~**

Absolutely no homework had gotten done on Saturday, and by Sunday, both Soonyoung and Minghao needed to really get to work. Unfortunately, neither of their apartments were a very conducive environment for learning, but there was a library on campus. So, after lunch, Soonyoung joined Minghao in a study room on the second floor of the building. There were wide windows that let everyone see into the room, this was done to discourage making out and encourage studying. Despite this, the two sat very close to each other on the old, lumpy couch.

With the door shut, the room felt stuffy and it was so quiet; and as much as they should have, they managed to not distract each other too much. Soonyoung had already started some homework after classes on Friday, and he was putting off everything for art till the end when Minghao would be able to help him. Hours passed, and most of their homework was finished.

Soonyoung asked for Minghao to look at his art homework, which was just basic figure sketches, and Minghao said they looked good for his first couple. Minghao placed his elbow onto Soonyoung’s thigh as he leaned over to point a few things out and offer some tips.

The door to their study room opened, a wave of fresh air and noise flooded through. They looked up to see Wonwoo standing in the doorway. He didn’t ask if he could, he simply came in, shutting the door, and sat in one of the plastic chairs, “So, he knows.”

Soonyoung glanced at Minghao before nodding to Wonwoo.

“And so, what are you planning to do next?” Wonwoo crossed his arms.

“I haven’t thought about it.” Soonyoung said quickly, understanding why Wonwoo was asking.

“You’ll have to soon.” Wonwoo didn’t seem like he was finished.

“What do you have to think about?” Minghao asked, looking between the two of them.

“I have to decide if I’m going to kill you, turn you, or make you forget.” Soonyoung said, looking at Minghao, who quickly became worried.

“Why? Why do you have to do any of those?” Minghao snapped his attention back to Wonwoo, as if he was the one making those rules.

“That’s just how it is, it has been that way since I can remember.” Wonwoo answered, “It keeps our kind, and yours, safe. Think about what you want too, it can be a mutual decision.”

“Are you having this talk with Mingyu too?” Minghao snapped again.

Wonwoo laughed lightly, “He doesn’t know, so I don’t have to. Anyway, there is something else I need to talk to you about, Minghao is welcome to stay.”

When Minghao didn’t move, Wonwoo nodded.

“Jeonghan told me about the people you saw last night. I agree, I do think we have hunters here. He said you only know one of their names, was it Jooheon?”

Soonyoung nodded, and Minghao suddenly sat up straight.

“The two from the other night? You think Jooheon and Hoseok are hunters?” Minghao asked quickly.

Wonwoo looked at Minghao, “You know them?”

“Barely, I mean, their friend Kihyun is dating a friend of someone I know. They were at this Chinese students party during welcome week with their big group of friends, and I only know some of their names.”

Wonwoo pulled out his phone, “Tell me the names you do know, I’ll look into them and see if we have anything to worry about. Maybe they are just weird guys, but I’d rather know for sure. If they are hunters, you two need to be especially careful. They won’t take too kindly to a human dating a vampire.”

Minghao nodded and started listing the names of their group, insisting that some of them couldn’t be hunters. They were too nice. Except Wonwoo didn’t care, he was going to look them up no matter how nice they were. He stood up once Minghao finished.

“I’ll let you know if I find anything. I can’t promise I’ll look much up tonight, I’ll be with Mingyu again.” Wonwoo didn’t give them time to respond before he was walking out of the door.

Once it clicked shut, Minghao turned his whole body towards Soonyoung, “I don’t want to forget.”

Soonyoung nodded, “Okay.”

“And I don’t want you to kill me either.” Minghao gripped Soonyoung’s arm tightly.

“I won’t turn you.” Soonyoung shifted back, his arm still held by Minghao.

“Well, I want you to. It’s supposed to be our decision, isn’t it? I think that’s the best option.”

“I know Jeonghan is good at the memory stuff, he could just take away everything relating to vampires and-”

“And I would just figure it out again.” He had a point, the memory wiping would really only work if they stayed away from each other.

“I don’t want to turn you, it’s not something I want you to have to go through.”

“I could handle it.”

Soonyoung shook his head, “It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced. I told you already, it feels like you’re on fire. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

“Would you rather kill me then?” Minghao’s flat tone made Soonyoung feel cold.

“No.”

“Then, you’ll have to turn me. It doesn’t have to be soon, but I don’t know the rules.”

“I’ll ask Jeonghan how long I have.” Soonyoung said.

And then he did, and Jeonghan laughed loudly.

“You just have to plan to do it, no one needs to know when. They would prefer you do it sooner rather than later, but there’s no time limit.” Jeonghan shook his head in amusement.

“You never told me that part, so why are you laughing?”

“You know  _ Twilight _ ?” Jeonghan giggled, “Planning a date to get turned is so teen vampire story, it hurts.”

“Hey, don’t you dare shit on  _ Twilight  _ like that!” Joshua shouted from across the apartment, “It’s not that bad!”

Jeonghan laughed loudly again, but quickly nodded to Soonyoung, “You two will be okay, your relationship is new anyway, no point in turning him yet. You could break up.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Soonyoung shook his head in disbelief as Jeonghan stepped around him.

“Oh, trust me, I think you two will make it, but I always stay slightly pessimistic about everything so I’m never surprised.”

Seungkwan came out of Vernon’s room, apparently having heard their small conversation, “At least you two are getting somewhere. I’m so tired of Wonwoo and Mingyu, it’s always Mingyu asking where they are in the relationship and Wonwoo changing the subject.”

“Does Wonwoo not like him any more?” Soonyoung asked, not sure why he really cared about that relationship.

“Oh, he fucking  _ loves  _ that idiot, but he’s just too nervous to admit it.” Seungkwan rolled his eyes, “I mean, it makes sense, Wonwoo is a sensitive person deep down, so he just doesn’t want to get his heart broken.”

Seungkwan picked up his backpack, “I also think if Mingyu broke up with him, he’d just kill him.”

Soonyoung shook his head, “I’m sorry, what?”

Seungkwan shrugged, and laughed, “A joke, of course.”

“It wasn’t very funny.” 

Seungkwan shrugged again, “Oh well, it doesn’t have to be funny. Anyway, I have to head back to campus. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Hearing the word “tomorrow” suddenly reminded Soonyoung of something very important. 

The bet. 

So much had happened that weekend that it was the last thing on his mind, but he wanted to help his friend win a silly little bet. Now the question was, how to make sure the group knows Chan won without making it seem too obvious that Soonyoung knew about it.

He had already told Minghao they wouldn’t see each other until their literature class the next morning, so he thought simply showing up at their apartment now would be a surprise. It wasn’t too late yet, it was only just past 5 p.m, but there was also the issue of dinner. The apartment mates would usually get dinner around 6, so if he went over now he would be invited to dinner. He would just have to suck it up for Chan’s sake.

Soonyoung grabbed his keys and rushed out the door, deciding to drive over instead of running, just to be on the safe side. No one was in the apartment’s living room when he got there, but he could hear soft music coming from someone’s room. It was probably Jun’s room, since the words were in Mandarian. Soonyoung passed Chan’s room, peering in through the open door. Chan didn’t notice he had come in, he had a large pair of headphones over his ears and his back was to the door.

He lightly knocked on the door, waiting to see if Chan would turn around. He didn’t, so Soonyoung went to Minghao’s room. This time, when he knocked on the door, someone actually answered. Minghao opened the door, pulling an earbud out. When he noticed it was Soonyoung, he looked pleasantly surprised.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” Minghao said, stepping aside to let Soonyoung in.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I would, but I have to do something.” 

“Oh? What is it?”

“What are we?” Soonyoung asked, hating the way he said it once it left his mouth.

“You want to have that talk? I thought we did, are you getting old?” Minghao laughed.

“So we agreed that we’re dating?”

Minghao shrugged with a laugh, “Yeah, I thought so at least.”

Soonyoung smiled and sat on the bed.

“Is that all you wanted to ask?” Minghao sat down on his stool, there were some splashes of paint on his pants.

“Yes and no. I was thinking about coming to dinner with you too.” Soonyoung said.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“No, I want to.”

Minghao sighed, “You know about the bet too, don’t you?”

Soonyoung looked at Minghao in surprise, “You too?”

“Yeah, I overheard Jihoon talking about it. I was trying to get him to win.”

“Well, I’m trying to help Chan win.”

Minghao laughed, “As long as it’s not Jun, I don’t care who wins. Let’s go with Chan then.”

At 6 o’clock, the two left the room together, and immediately started holding hands. Chan was sitting on the couch, waiting for everyone to show up. He looked up and tried to hide his excitement, but it was hard to tell if he was excited for them or for the money he was about to get. Jun came out of his room a moment later, then Jihoon was last.

“What’s Soonyoung doing here?” Jihoon asked, nodding to him.

“I’m coming to dinner with you guys.” Soonyoung said with a smile.

“Why?” Jihoon asked again.

“Why not? Can’t I go to dinner with my boyfriend and his friends?” He said the word as casually as he could.

Chan jumped off the couch and shouted while the other two groaned. He immediately asked for the money, while Soonyoung and Minghao pretended to be shocked. Jun and Jihoon grumbled the entire walk to the dining hall while Chan planned out what he was going to spend his newly earned 40 dollars on. Although, for Soonyoung, the anxiety about the expectation to eat was looming and he had brought it upon himself. It was too late to back out now.

It was extra too late when Minghao swiped his card twice to let Soonyoung in. Soonyoung followed Minghao as he walked around the food area, only looking at what was being served but not getting anything. He was going to walk to the table empty handed, but he noticed exactly who his friends had joined. Suddenly, he had no choice to but grab a small plate of food and take it to the table. Minghao seemed nervous when they came to the table, knowing the possibility that some of the people at the table wanted to kill his boyfriend.

“Oh, Soonyoung, you’re here too?” Changkyun smiled as the two sat down, “You already know Jooheon, but let me introduce you to these guys too.”

The table was practically full of people he didn’t know, but every name that Changkyun said matched the ones that Minghao had told Wonwoo. As much as he didn’t want to think about it, he had a feeling Changkyun was a hunter too. It would be disappointing, to say the least. After the brief introduction, the conversation moved along. Except, the longer the food stayed on Soonyoung’s plate untouched, the more looks he could feel from Jooheon . 

Soonyoung picked up the spoon and scooped some of the food on his plate, not really sure what he had even grabbed. As naturally as he could, he put it in his mouth and started chewing. The taste of regular food made him want to gag. Yet, he persisted, swallowing and starting on the next spoonful. He tried to distract himself with the conversation as he ate, imitating everyone else. It worked well enough, that he was soon done with everything he got. He pushed the plate away from him, his stomach already starting to gurgle. The feeling was still bearable, but he didn’t know how long he would have until it got so bad he would throw up. At least no one was giving him odd looks any longer.

Almost 30 minutes later, Soonyoung couldn’t bear it any longer. He pulled out his phone and pretended he got a text from Vernon.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Soonyoung picked up his plate, and tried to leave.

“Oh, where do you live? Hyungwon needs a ride to work now.” Changkyun said suddenly, stopping Soonyoung before he could live.

“It’s off campus.” Soonyoung wanted to just leave, but he didn’t want to be rude.

“Which direction?” Hyungwon asked.

Soonyoung pointed in the general direction of home, knowing full well the route he went didn’t have any businesses along it.

“Great, I’m going that way too.” Hyungwon stood.

Soonyoung couldn’t be rude and say no, so he nodded. He felt so nauseous that he feared speaking would cause him to throw up. Quickly, he said goodbye and left with Hyungwon trailing behind him. They didn’t speak on the walk to the car. 

“Where do you work?” Soonyoung asked, swallowing his nausea again.

“I’ll point it out.” Hyungwon said as he got into the car.

Soonyoung got into the car and drove off. He knew he was driving fast, but it was hard to concentrate on going the speed limit when also fighting off the urge to pull over and vomit on the street. Hyungwon would occasionally give directions, and those were the only words spoken. It was odd, unless he worked from home, there was no possible place to have a job at this time of night on a Sunday. He was told to stop in front of a small apartment complex and Hyungwon got out of the car, thanking him for the ride.

Soonyoung looked around, thinking there was an office he was missing, but he didn’t look for long. His stomach lurched, and he sped off. Home wasn’t too far now. There would be plenty of time to think about how odd his drive with Hyungwon was at another time. Now wasn’t the time to think about how this stranger had adjusted the chair multiple times, or how he looked up the exact car model on his phone. That kind of thinking was for after Soonyoun’s visit to the porcelain throne. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is much shorter than usual, hopefully it's still okay! Also, I am planning to post next week's chapter on Saturday instead because of the holiday. I hope you all understand, thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Are you excited to see where this one goes? I'm excited about this one! See you in a week, find me on my twt (baybehbrenton) till then!


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